To Giovanni

I see your face

and I know what it’s like

to have no doubt,

to never have pierced the casing.

never had cold scorn seep in

upon your certainty

of being loved

You meet each day

with eagerness —

in the rough and tumble

of your big brothers,

your place is wholly

one of joy

I see your face

and start to glimpse:

This is the way we all

have always

wanted to be held

You give us this —

We, too, can have it:

There is no outside

of that which holds us

in sheer delight,

in cradled bliss.

©Wendy Mulhern

February 28, 2014