He smiles up at me
with that crooked smile

Curly wisps of gold
falling freely below perfectly round earlobes
and across his forehead
like a blonde whirlpool of feathery fluff

Messy fingers grasping
behind my knees tightly
like a monkey climbing tree trunks

Crumbles of gram crackers
smeared to his rotund cheeks

Juice ran down his collar
like a stream of sticky slop

He hears the beat of an unstoppable rhythm
and just so, his feet
Unstoppable
Pounding on the hardwood floor
like hammers to steel nails
Hips sway round out of sync
Hands lift to the ceiling
To the sky
and swirl round like an Indian dancer
Extravagant brown eyes luminous
lit up by music
The laughter of childhood

Watching his enraptured innocence
sparks laughter from my very soul
The very laughter
of my own childhood
reappearing to me
from a moment in time
which suddenly seems like yesterday
Overwhelming me with an abundance of adoration
Bringing tears to the edge of my eyelids
Not pouring over just quite
Reminding me how good it is
to be alive
and to be loved

These moments are
by far
the times I will cherish the most
Not in my day or week
Not in my tightly wound agenda
Not in the busy schedule of chaos
But of my entire life

Phoenix

Dancing