First Weight

He tumbled, small and sudden,

a scrape on the kitchen floor.

And then the world, for him,

was just that open door.

Those eyes, the size of saucers,

wide and searching, searching.

Not for a toy, or comfort,

but for me. Just me.

And the air went out of my lungs.

This absolute stillness.

The weight of all that trust,

a thing I’d never known.

He reached. A tiny hand.

And in that moment, I was

the entire universe,

sole anchor in the storm.