I saw a mother holding a young girl
of perhaps a year and a half.
As I looked, I found that I could feel
what the little girl was feeling
as she hugged her mother.
The enclosing warmth,
the certain sense of security
and loving protections against all
the new and confusing mysteries
of the world all around.
It was, for me and the small girl,
everything
for those few moments it lasted.
An endless safe place to be; for that time.
And then she chose to go down
onto the floor again to walk around
and see what was there.
Her mother stood up behind and followed.
Just a woman with a child.
And yet so much had passed
and touched
me in just those few moments
gallagher
christchurch
21Jan25