revolutions

how is it that the revolutions
and the rotations
of the earth are speeding up?
wasn't it just yesterday
that i cradled these boys of mine
in my arms?
now i lift their sturdy frames
and something catches in my lower back;
i carry them and their legs
hang down to my knees.
wasn't it just yesterday
that their little feet
fit inside the palm of my hand?
their feet are still small,
comparatively speaking,
but now they call to mind
the feet of a large puppy,
maybe a great dane
or a st. bernard.

my boys have not stopped lifting
their tear-stained faces
to me for comfort;
they have not stopped opening
their arms wide-spread to be held.

sometimes when i'm doing the
simplest of things with them--
walking outside as day
draws to an end,
pouring a cup of milk,
tying a shoe,
washing dirty smudges off a face--
time stops.
i am filled with the knowledge that
this
moment
this
season
so precious beyond language,
will pass,
will fade away
like smoke from a bright-burning fire,
and soon i will not be
their sun anymore.