S-For Swep, A Hug

1.Asleep on the couch,
His chest pinning my left foot.

Just us in the house,
A fire moments ago lit.

A small heart beating
On a barely covered bone.

My son's heart filling
The spaces skipped by my own.

2.Tucked in, drowsy,
He wants
"One hundred
Kisses
And one hundred
Hugs." So I
Oblige,
Counting in my head
Deliver
First that number
Of quick pecks.
Breathless,
Swep says
One hug will do.

3.Snug in the doorway
My wife and son as I leave

This Monday for work.
She riding him on a hip,

And I off at dawn,
"He's so young," I call.

Then away, thinking,
Our love is for all of us--

Something he may not
Ever understand,

Or, at a moment beyond,
Even return to.