Baby sleeping

A good friend brought her ten-day-old baby home from hospital today - he'd had a stint in the special care nursery with some breathing problems, then a few days under ultraviolet light to treat jaundice, looked like a little space-age guy in his blue-lit incubator with teeny sunglasses on, but finally was pronounced well enough to be discharged - and I went over for tea. Held and carried him around for almost 2 hours - so light! Amazing what infants will sleep through - his siblings were hollering, there was music on, he got carted up and down stairs, tea was made and drunk, websites were logged onto, and he just snorted occasionally and curled his fingers.

What did my fingers do before they held him?
What did my heart do, with its love?
I have never seen a thing so clear.
His lids are like the lilac-flower
And soft as a moth, his breath.
I shall not let go.
There is no guile or warp in him. May he keep so.

- from Three Women, Sylvia Plath