Carrying Sleeping Children to Bed



They slumber on the couch, in our beds, or on the floor-
their chests slowly rising and falling,
faces blushed, hair askew, and bodies warm.
We slide our hands underneath them
and lift them up like resurrecting
our Lord.
Their legs and arms dangle
in our arms like a Raggedy Angel.
We are their wings to guide in this flight to bed.
In dim light, we stumble and stagger in the turbulence to their beds.
We make sure we carry them carefully, or our cargo might
fall.
We remove their play clothes,
put them in the laundry basket,
and put on their bedtime clothes.
We pull the covers over them,
kiss them on their faces,
and regard them before we turn to go.
Heaven knows
we do not deserve them,
their soft features. We recall the day’s good and bad turns.
Even our own children have them we finally learn,
as do we.
Their sins drift off into the night,
and are forgiven and forgotten.
Why not our own and that of others?
After all, we are all sisters and brothers.
But I do not do what my heart knows to be true.
It is much easier carrying sleeping children to bed.
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Submitted on January 05, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:00 min read
5

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCDBEFFGHIJKLKDMNODPQRISTTUG
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,037
Words 202
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 29

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