In forty days and nights you might be here,

perhaps already nestled close at home or maybe

so fresh and new that I am fully taken with

taking in every bit of who you are. Your features,

just like dad’s or brother’s, sister’s, mine. Your

very own way of being in the world and we are only

witnesses to the miracle that means I got to be

your vessel for a time. Now,

we wait and wonder as we make room, prepare

our hearts for you. And this nearness, this

longing for the day to come when you will fit,

will curl into the curve of my arm and rest.

There. There in the place you have been

hidden, your life known before we ever knew

you, your days numbered by the only One

who could craft such detail into every part–

your eyes, your nose, your lips, fully formed.

The way your fingers bend tightly around mine, toes curl

like rows of peas grown perfectly in the summer

garden. Lashes flutter and close in sleep

after your journey here. Then, time for tucking in

together where I find you, feel my heart releasing

all I’ve kept in waiting and even more I didn’t know.

May it be so, love.

-Mama