Confession: I don’t know much about poetry. When I write a poem, I put together words I like. That is all. Imagine this poem spoken over a changing table in that moment of weird realization when you wonder how on earth this human being, with her knowing eyes, arrived in the world fully formed. She is something like a god (not God but one of those beings in myths) or a faerie folk — mysterious, enchanting, otherworldly. Speak these words to her, shaking your head in wonder, in the cooing tones and echoing words of baby talk.
Lines Spoken Over a Changing Table
You little person.
You little person!
You with your luminescent eyes
like pearls in a pool of glass,
where did you come from, anyway?
Where did you come from, anyway?
Your nose like a plug-a-lug plucked from a tree,
your mouth like the bow on a wee girly’s dress,
your gray-green eyes like worlds, but bigger.
Where did you come from anyway?
God himself must have set you down.
There is no other explanation.
Yes.
You capture the wonder of it.
What’s a plug-a-lug and why is it in a tree?
You decide. ☺️
Go back and look at the child’s nose, then you too can understand!
Exactly. 😂
This makes me think of George MacDonald’s “Where did you come from baby dear?” Have you read it?
I hadn’t, but I did just now. And yes, I can see the resemblance. I like it! My favorite line is his “three cornered smile” because Annalise has a smile exactly like that–a little triangle.
I love how you describe poetry as “putting words together you like.” That is exactly what poetry should be. And the baby is simply edible. 🥰
Edible. What a good word to describe a baby. ☺️
Your words convey the wonder of the existence of this child.
Your words convey the joy in a mother’s heart; the joy of her baby’s being and the joy that God has given her this baby to care for in these days before she grows into herself…into you.
Your words convey the reflection that we are all babies, all children of God, all made in His image.
God is poetic, for words cannot convey the love that you have for your baby, or the love that God has for you.
For poetry conveys the song of the heart.
And in that, you have conveyed love.
Thanks for that blessing!