i. Letting Patroclus Go

I stand, towering over your head, little one,
Teaching you how to feed yourself
While hiding behind your self.

Smell, smile, a gift of transient emotion.
You refuse to let me feed you,
So I feed you the illusion,
Holding your hand while you hold the spoon.

A glance upward.

How much longer can I keep you like this, pumpkin blossom,
The fiery hair that shares my name?


ii. Sleep by Volition

Gravity makes fools of us all.
You can feel it, down to your very bowels,
Can you not? The postural change,

Pulling you down onto wobbly legs,
Weak ankles that don’t support your weight yet.

I’ll hold you a different way. I’m glad I do,
I’m privileged with a rare view.
Light dances on your cheek,
Shadow skips across your eye.

Sleep slowly takes you into her bosom
While I teach you to sleep on mine.

An eye opens, finds itself too weak to support the night,
Then closes, seeing me as if I were
A dream on the lid of the tiny sleeper’s eye.