A Mother's Love

My nightly ritual of checking on the children before I go to bed.

I creep from room to room
with mouse like skill
not wanting to cause my little angels
to stir.
The forms get smaller with each room I enter.
Diaries go to cars to princesses to rattles.
I kneel beside each bed
closing my eyes to listen
to each long, heavy breath.
Gently, I move each strand away
from their little perfect eyes.
I memorize the way their hair falls on the bed
and across their cheek,
their hands resting next to their face
slightly curled.
I think back and remember them
in my arms so helpless
me as their only world
as they are still mine.
If I could hold them all at once
keeping them safe in my arms from all fear
all hurt
all pain
all loss
If I could keep them all just the way they are now.
Small, smart, imaginative, distinctly different,
innocent..........