Dear Baby,
I planted daffodils the day you were born,
Thought they would grow back in the springtime
After the winter crystals
Slid to rainwater.
They didn’t.
Maybe I planted them wrong,
I’m not sure.

The point is,
I did a lot of things wrong, baby.

Do you remember the night
That I broke the green vase
And you cut your sweet little feet?
Your hair was in 2 braids that night
And the red and green together
Was like Christmas.
You might have forgotten those details,
But you have scars
From the fragments
And shards
Stuck beneath stitches.

Do you remember the day
At the park
With the cold popsicle kisses?
I wrapped you in a picnic blanket burrito
And your voice
Was like hummingbird wings,
Soft and fast and sweet.

Sometimes I think about leaving you
Because I am a hurricane
And you are so delicate.
But I would miss
Your sugarsnap heartbeats.

So, baby,
I guess this is just to say
That I am
Broken eggshells,
Already cracked..
Don’t tread so softly,
You have places to go.
Eggshells hurt a little,
But they don’t break skin
And you already have
Glass in your feet.

Don’t let the memory
Of bloody feet
Stop you from walking
Wherever you want to go.

Love always,
Mama