Category Archives: Parenthood

Baby

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Believers in spells
We hardly speak of it,
And yet we know
Within your secret self
The baby grows
And daily lays his claim
To food and space, to air,
To life itself,
And to our life
Which until now we shared
In love and work
And peaceful happiness.

For these quiet years
When we like rivers flowed
Each into each,
Our separate streams to bind,
My thanks and love,
My joy and faithfulness.

And for this change
When we from two shall grow
Into a third,
And found its infant life
On work and faith,
Be you my heart
And daily comforter,
As I’ll your strength
And constant husband be.

30 July 1969

Under the cherry tree

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Come under the cherry tree with me
To rest within its moving pools of shade
And listen to the passing summer wind
High in the leaves.

Nearby, within her cot,
The baby sleeps, dreaming of lives unlived
And faces not yet seen. Hers is the time
Of total innocence, of rosebud promise
And of quiet content. Yours is the time,
When after fears and pain, come flooding joy
And peace and renewed motherhood.

14th August 1976

At Granny’s

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At Granny’s there are lovely stairs
Just made for climbing up and down.
And Pusscat tries to hide from me
Up on the landing out of sight.
I don’t know why she runs from me.
It must be Puppy that she fears
But sees in me another dog
For I, like dogs, am quadruped.
With Granny near in case I fall
(‘Though why I’d do that I can’t tell!).
I kneel upon the lowest step,
Hold tight the bars and start to climb.
I sometimes see the bushy tail
Between the rungs, just out of reach,
But every time I climb a stair
The Pusscat moves on noiselessly.
I reach the landing but she’s gone,
Completely vanished, then I see
The bathroom’s open, small and pink.
I crawl inside and out of sight
I play with Granny’s powder puff.