Naming

___________ –

your name is the print
love has made in the world,

your body the growing home
your spirit has made upon the earth,

your heart the rose
we have grown on life’s stem.

Your sapling hands
hold the maker’s art,

you are brother/sister to all
that crawls and walks and cries

upon the earth,
even your hair cousin to the dandelion,

your eye to bee-loving flower,
fingers to the fragile mouse –

remember in all your seasons,
you are part of the garden of the world,

shining the bottled light of us,
the best of us, which is love.

May all here present be trees,
that bending, protect you from wind,

may we be the sun
in the days and clouds of your life,

moon of your night,
smiling forever among candle stars.

Your name given here today
was written in the book of life,

only for you
as the seed dreams of light,

green and flower in every detail,
and is now spoken into the world –

__________, our child,
earth’s fresh and dearest creature –

your name is the print
love has made in the world.