Inhabiting skin for the first time:
cold air on skin and
warm embrace of mother’s skin.
Eyes open and vision is cloudy,
shapes are monochrome,
but sound—
sound is familiar:
mother’s voice, father’s voice,
shuffling feet of animals,
crinkle of hay and dirt
and then motion,
most familiar sensation of all,
the soothing sway, the rocking between two arms
recalls a recent memory,
the memory of floating, bouncing,
the memory of a long journey,
the journey filled with
mother’s voice, father’s voice,
shuffling feet of animals.
Eyes close and a much older memory
briefly passes consciousness:
the beginning of time,
that moment when perfect love
existed and created all this,
the Trinity, the Holy Family.
Then sleep comes, sleep and rest
for the next journey ahead.