Midway through the journey of our life

We woke to find our daughter crying,

“Daddy, daddy, daddy!” at 3 a.m.

 

Rising, I entered her room

Stepping on Leggos, Brios and books

That bit into my foot and ankles.

 

How I carried her to the kitchen I still can’t recall.

Holding her, I opened the doors and refrigerator and bottle and

Microwave, pushing “4” and “0” and “power”

 

Until I heard the “beep, beep, beep” of warm milk

And found her mouth and felt the sucking and

I tried to lie down but she kicked and ordered

 

“Rock-a-bye! Rock-a-bye!” until I held her in my arms

And sang “Rock-a-bye baby on the tree-top,”

Listening to her sing it with me until

 

She stopped singing and crying and just breathed coarsely

Through her nose. I carried her to our bed, slowly,

Hoping to cradle her between my wife and me in a locked embrace.

 

But she managed to twist her feet onto me

Use my wife for a pillow, bisecting, connecting,

Until we formed something non-geometric

 

And she suddenly slept. Midway through the night

We were both awake and could not sleep feeling

Her growing limbs and dreaming overtake us

 

Midway through the tangle of our lives

When we stumbled and wondered and

Found ourselves shaped into something new.