Discovery

I could not hold her,
my niece,
for she was so small,
impossibly small.
Born early.

She was still a little yellow
from the jaundice,
her delicate fist curled
against her plush cheek.

When I first came into the room
I did not realize
she was a part of the rumpled baby blanket
on the King-sized bed.

I crept across the bed,
steady so as not to wake her,
this delicate creature,
looked into her soft-featured face.

The rounded nose, puckered lips,
puffy eyes and thin skin,
poreless and new,
a gold swatch of hair.

As I wondered at the smell of her,
so fresh from the womb and clean,
she made a tiny squeak of waking,
my heart skipped a long,
breathless beat.