To my third child
This fledgling life
Cupped in the body like a goblet I dare not spill
A fresh egg poised on fingertips
A seed nurtured in the dark soil
A slow seduction of the soul
across time and space.
I feel the strength of your body now
As the sun that blazes on my pale winter skin
The celandine shines in the grass
And the lady's mantle peeks through last year's dead growth
My green shoot
The first visible evidence of winter's labour
Your form now fills the dresses I wore last summer
When you were no more than a dream and a hope
And I roamed the hills
The forest and the streams
Calling your name.
Invoking the allies of trees, flower and fairy
Drinking deep of the bluebell waters
Soon, this could all be yours, I said
When the time is right
For you to jump in.