Bloom Poem by Imtiaz Dharker

You are nothing more than yourself,
not a message sent to change the world,
not here to save mankind or even me. You are,

like a snail or mollusc, only there;
like a leaf among thousands on a tree,
like the sea or the smallest of its creatures,

just there. And yet, and yet I watch your face
and see a star waking in your eyes
like sap-rise to a leaf, tide-rush to the moon.

I try to live the life inside your head, think
what you are thinking, feel what makes
your heart beat fast, small body, small weight

in my arms. More than my self, I want to know
you. This is the gift you give. Cradling you close
I feel the world and all its waking life.

Holding you, I hold the world,
wishing it for ever safe.