To Watch Me While I Sleep
The sparrow struts in the snow white snow
leaving tiny footprints upon the coming day
Oh, that I could leave life with such dignity,
carried away on softly silent, restless winds.
I would not leave you without a kiss, a tiny
thing you could feel upon your pursed lips,
a huge part of my heart given very tenderly
for your scrapbook, the page of love gone.
You, the sweetest, most tender of humans
how fortunate I am to know you love me
how beautiful your eyes look when closed
dreaming of peaceful things beyond reach.
Yellow bleeds into the gently rising sun
sending darts through the drizzle of rain
to land within the sweep of auburn hair
drifting down the slender curve of you.
And I will tip toe away before you rise
to lay my weary head upon a pillow of
remembering when I was your age and
I had nobody to watch me while I slept.
Sylvia Sammons Spivey
2009
For my daughter Tanya
