Swaddles and Baby Sniffs

( a poem for the ache when your baby isn’t a baby any more )

I ache to go back to the days of swaddles and baby sniffs
I crave to hold you, so tiny still, little feet poking from beneath the blankets
The hole in my heart is growing bigger now you’ve left babyhood
I cannot do the things I used to
Feed you like I need to
Cuddle you like there was no tomorrow
Now you’re a fledgling, a flier
Away with the dinosaurs and diggers
I am more in love with you today than ever
But the ache is still there; you are still my baby
Yet when I call you my baby you say NO!
He’s the baby!
And we both glance at your brother, and smile, for you know
As I do
That you’re both my babies in equal form
Despite you being a touch bigger and for sure, louder
You’re both my babies and shall be til the end of forever

Sophie Slosarczyk

More poems for this feeling: visit the Poem Library.