In my heart ...

As an English major (my first degree before nursing), I've always loved old literature and poetry but none has ever quite captured my admiration like the poetry of E. E. Cummings. It's funny how after years of brooding over and analyzing his poems, becoming a mother has finally made me fully understand the meaning of his following poem. Funny how life works. So, I dedicate this to my sweet angel Jack, without whom I might not have ever fully found my true self, the true meaning of life, or how to truly love unconditionally. I love you so very much, my precious child. Holding you in my arms is absolutely the best part of my days, although I feel myself carry you with me even when we're apart. Please always know that I do and always will carry your heart with me and that you, my dear child, will always carry mine.

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in

my heart) i am never without it (anywhere

i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done

by only me is your doing, my darling)

i fear

no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want

no world (for beautiful you are my world, my true)

and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here in the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of a sky of the tree called life; which grows

higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

- Edward Estlin Cummings