--ONE WAY OR ANOTHER

Stars

   (for Madison)

Today a woman

Yet I remember that

Coffee-brewed morning

Before the sun

Had found its sea legs

Tip toeing across the

Bedroom striped in

Shy gray light

Finding the bassinet

Unlacing a plush

Pink blanket

You’d somehow

Burrowed under

Seeing your cherub

Face as I

Gripped the

Sides unsteady

Thinking God

Oh my God

She’s not beautiful at all

She’s made of stars.