Baby Girl

She wears a white cotton gown that she took from my drawer. Her toes peek out from under the ruffled hem. I fix her coffee. Milk and sugar.

She cries. She says to me, "I don't know why I'm so mean to you sometimes."

I shush her and rub her back. She leans into me and I murmur quiet womanly words. She is afraid one day she will wake up and be someone else. I tell her that when she is as old as me some things will still be the same. Her head will lay on my shoulder and she will still be my baby girl.

Forever my beloved child.