How To Soothe

71 total words

<1 minutes of reading

When babies cried

my father picked them up,

politely, as if to apologize

for their locomotion issues,

then stepped outside.

He named trees, birds, rain.

“This is grass,” he’d say.

“In no time at all

you’ll be running on it.”

Babies calmed at once,

eyes wide, awake

to the planet’s glories.

I learned from my father

it’s a matter of walking

inside to out

with someone capable

of truly seeing.

Laura Grace Weldon
Laura Grace Weldon is the author of the poetry collections Blackbird (Grayson Books, 2019) and Tending (Aldrich Press, 2013), as well as a handbook of alternative education titled Free Range Learning (Hohm Press, 2010). Connect with her at lauragraceweldon.com or @earnestdrollery on Twitter.