For Shane (v. 01)

And now it's March second,
my only brother's birthday
He's 36 now and married
a new father, loving
every minute, every
second, of it

And now I'm an uncle:
A man with a tenuous,
thread-thin connection
to an infant child

Responsibility transferred,
instructions whispered like a late-night story,
as she is first handed to me
My hands together
covering nearly all
of her tiny body

And now her eyes are closed
her face intense and focused
unraveling the entire universe
in silence,

burning stronger and brighter
than this man who made her--
made her with the woman
who loves him most--

He has crossed
another threshold
reaching a man's hand
imperceptibly nearer
to another
Golden Door