The grandchild

[deponti]

When that little sleeping face
Peeps out of the bedclothes,
The eyes still closed,
But the mouth curved in a mischievious smile...
When the still-warm-from-sleep small body
Cuddles up to you...
Then all the worry, the scoldings, the cleanings-up,
The burden of a little one dependent on you...
All of it melts away in that moment of joy
And wonder that here, here, is another soul,
Another mind, that will soon be independent
Of our care and cosseting.
Bringing up a human being...
Is there any better task in the world?