I held her in my arms.

The sky was winter dull

but in my mind

I now see only brightness.

How small she seemed,

warm against my chest

she was mine;

just for a while.

 

Proud dad was gruff

and mum, new to me;

fresh off a plane,

twanged Ausy sounds.

She let me hold Athena,

brave soul, for what knew I

of such small beings.

 

The years have fled,

though still I visit

in my mind;

those happy times;

simple, in our friendship.

It makes no sense

that forty years have gone,

and you are not a baby

anymore to anyone

but me.

 

 

David Garlick, Victoria, February 1996

For Athena