SMALL ROBERT

You lay on my chest, small Robert,
All eight pounds and some ounces
Of You.

Ticking and clicking and clinching,
Startled too, when a door slammed.

You were warm against my chest. small Robert,
Quiet, contented.
Our breathing synchronized, oddly enough.
Perhaps the rhythm of my heart
Was reassuring yours'.

My old right hand looked huge
On your small back.
Patting and stroking,
Enjoying.

Left arm close under your small butt,
Supporting.

Sixteen days of your sojourn
Had gone by.
I was proud to hold you.

Be strong, small Robert,
Grow apace.
Be brother to the human race.
Cherish all that God creates
And long years hence
As life abates,
In your children you will see
Where lies immortality.

I love you, small Robert.

****

Dec 13, 1972

Robert Ernest LaRock; 1920-1978

Jacob

I looked at little Jacob
As he slept unaware,
He'd just then come to join us
(He didn't have much hair).

Comely, strong and healthy
With a quirky little smile
He nursed upon his mother's breast
with pleasure and with style.

Watching tiny Jacob,
My heart upon my face,
I thought about the future
And the course he'd have to trace.

Will he walk on astral planes
And pull old Plato's beard,
Hunt with vast Orion
And talk with creatures weird?

Wish to be on Venus
And find that he is there,
Know that Ursa Major
Is really not a bear?

Gently baby Jacob,
Take your lovely time--
Let those multiplying cells
Nature's trellis climb.

In you is a miracle--
Teeming, rampant, rife.
Flaming issue of the sun,
Pulsing, potent life.

Grandpa LaRock
1978

Robert Ernest LaRock 1920-1978