The Gaze

for my granddaughter Kiera

She is nearly one year old

and has probably learned more

               in this year,

making all the new and strange

               familiar,

than I have in the last twenty.

However

clearly she has not heard

that stars reside light years away

because

her eyes are twin blue stars

right here

              before us.

Clearly she has not heard

that blue stars in particular

are so hot

they are gone

in the blink

of a cosmological eye.

Her twin blue stars warm

                with no danger of burning us

or burning out.

Yet there is another kind of light

that arises from her

but does not originate in her.

It is gathered by her presence,

called home by her cheeks.

I have seen this light

                on the cheeks

      of white orchids

in the rainforest of Peru

--a light that filters down through

layered leaves and

     nestles silently on petals,

a soothing glow

          that quiets you

and draws you closer.

Twin suns gazing.

Cheeks gathering.

A small smile summoning.

All saying silently together,    

“I am here.

 I see you.

          I see you

                            seeing me.        

I am awake.

                I am alive!”

C 2014 Bob Kamm