Inappropriate thoughts
It is moments like these
while holding my sleep rumpled
daughter in my arms
gazing down into her
perfectly still face
and studying the veins running
across her closed eyelids
enraptured by the fall
of her eyelashes
across her cheeks
like feathered pine leaves
brushing the cool dewy forest floor
holding her lightly as her back
arches and her face turns away
in a silent stretch
to revel the spot
where her head rested against my arm
now softly dark and damp
and sweet with sweat
that I think to myself
damn
I really need
to clean out her ears
