(for Gerald and Lauren and Henry)

Out past mown farmland
sun crushed by rain-weary clouds
reflected in shallow pools
of emptied fields—

I have a trunk latch that needs
fixing and a generous nephew-in-law
ready to help, so I make a round-about
circuit, the back way

to reach him. The bonus is getting
to see my niece, the new mama,
him, the new papa, and their
grinning, toothless boy,

five months old, happy and
content to have arrived on
the planet after his long gestation
in the cosmos of his mama’s

universe. Now he’s in ours,
and all of us gaga grownups
cannot stop looking into his
blueblue baby eyes

taking in the world as a newbie,
his gonna-be hair the fawn color of
sweet grass shorn close to the earth,
his irises the shade of the last light

of the day reflected in those
spontaneous ponds dappled with sky,
full of tomorrow.