for Ravi, age nearly year and a half

I see you! we speak and wave
play peek-a-boo with upside-down plastic
yellow-gold dinner plate uneaten
stuffing forms sticky spirals in downy
light brown hair       Let's take inventory
mimic each other  yes,
lift strands of hair   pat nose
bare lips to show teeth   locate
ears   imagine, one on each side of our heads!
I blow him kisses and he
blows kisses back from the palm
of chubby wide-open fingers
Oh, I say, I hug you, luscious baby,
my arms hug pretend he's inside them
and he wraps arms around himself
virtual hug in turn and Oh,
Oh, I kiss you, Ravi, and he
leans forward to kiss my face
on the tablet! 
He's never done
that before!  says Daddy,
my grandson. 
                        And I rise brimful
of warm milky-way-stars radiant
meteor-bubbles-swirling in space
underwater gemstone grottoes
aquamarine blue cobalt sun-loving coral
undulating seagrasses to glow
throughout and beyond my life
towards a next world
your great-grandpa and I
carrying Ravi's computer screen kiss
infinities in the palm of my hand
through a color-spangled cosmos.

© by Charlotte Mandel.
Used with the author’s permission.