niece

i craddle
my niece,
less than one
month old.

she is sleeping.

i study
her face,
imagining
there's some great big
secret
revealed on her skin.

there isn't,
as far
as i can tell.

grandma
and mother
are toiling around
the kitchen table,
making some crafts.

those fingers,
my god,
they aren't even human,
but they are.
just the size of slivers.

she adjusts herself
in my arms,
and i'm left speechless.
i just don't know what to say
to this 10 pound pile
of
newly formed flesh.

i don't want her to grow.
i don't want her to get swallowed
by
the world's shit one day.
i don't want her to hurt
a boy, or
another tiny girl,
with words
and actions
that would make one forget
that this girl,
sleeping in my arms,
was once
a baby.

she opens those quarter size
eyes,
stares at me,
and begins crying.

her mom rescues her.
she just wants to be fed.