to Tamsin and Chris, with love
A photograph. It is a woodland place
In late spring and a girl of two or three
Looks at the camera with an earnest face
That might have just been smiling. Could that be
Fear in those soft eyes? No, it is rather trust,
Though trust derives from some first sense of fear.
But still, the woods are tranquil and buds thrust
Expansively into the genial air.
The child is now a woman who today
Turns the same earnest look toward her love,
Then laughs, her head thrown back, in her dear way.
Such fun. Such seriousness. You know them, Chris:
They make rough places kindly and they save
Our world from what might be sheer wilderness.
14 July 2000