“this is a leaf, and this, grass, and all of this spring, and it is good,” i tell the one in red rubber boots and a smile that appears when dimpled hand touches new
and it’s all new, and it’s all good for this boy who splashes puddle and tosses rock and feels sawdust soft between finger and i wish for his smile, the one that tells me he hears God’s heartbeat loud in the love of now
“God made all of this, and he made you,” i whisper against skin of my skin and his eyelashes blink long against fading sky, and everything in me longs to keep the heartbeat alive
to keep the new resounding love for a child who will soon be man
yet this, the miracle of the seasons: newness with spring, mystery unfolding in curl of leaf and petal
we all become children with earth-resurrection
it’s the gift of easter: death dies, life reborn
as mud squishes between fingers and winter weeps its way into the ground
making possible a garden of tiny footprints
i hear him, God, rising up from the womb of the earth, his heartbeat in the wind, the robin’s song, the laughter of child discovering
it’s the sound of love
(shared with one shot poetry)