A DREAM OF STILLNESS

for Jordan

Gripping the stroller’s sides, you sat

at first like a Fabergé egg within a basket

—a sentimental image, to be sure,

but we are your parents, and allowed.

As we drifted slowly from pool to pool

of shade, you cooing, just this side

of talk, of walking, your mother and I

just this side of middle age,

I imagined reading shelves of books

and drinking imported beer from China,

while your mother spoke of movies

she’d like to see, sports we might take up,

and you gave yourself up to our whims of motion,

your sleep-suited feet scissoring with pleasure.