to laugh once more

such tiny toes tickling at my heart
her smile at once innocent and true
and affirming each moment of play
beside her mischievous big brother
who longs to discover one more thing
that will make her laugh yet again
and again

there is a dynamic in every we—
a means of managing the want and need
without bowing to the extraneous
voices that ever demand our skins
compelling a sit and a think and
a banal effort to clean this, fold that,
stand straight

to be again so very young and whole
reaching for each moment in time
with such passion, such adoration
such lack of petty prevarication
is to overthrow the reserved dynamic
and to laugh once more with the abandon
of a child

My weans–Leona and Cooper–at play.

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