poems for a welcoming ceremony

[elliott]

I'm a bit stuck coming up with ideas for a couple of readings for a welcoming ceremony for ds2. For ds1 we had the bit about children from 'the prophet', and a poem by Sylvia Plath about the birth of her son. I've found a few poems I like but none seem completely 'suitable' for the occasion....
Any ideas welcome - something that celebrates childhood would be lovely, it would also be great if I could find something about brothers/siblings/families.....

We played this song at our ds' celebration.

You will lose your baby teeth.
At times, you'll lose your faith in me.
You will lose a lot of things,
But you cannot lose my love.
You may lose your appetite,
Your guiding sense of wrong and right.
You may lose your will to fight,
But you cannot lose my love.
You will lose your confidence.
In times of trial, your common sense.
You may lose your innocence,
But you cannot lose my love.
Many things can be misplaced;
Your very memories be erased.
No matter what the time or space,
You cannot lose my love.
You cannot lose,
You cannot lose,
You cannot lose my love.

• Sara Groves

oh, mudda, that is lovely!

bundle, no, haven't used it - it just rang a bell and I went for a look. Some poems just feel right, don't they?

bundle & janh, you have me blubbing into my pasta salad. I wish I wasn't at work

elliott, please use the small hands one or I will have to have another baby

My dp has found one for you by Audre Lorde. It's really about a girl but I guess you could adapt it! I will try to remember to bring it to the Tynemouth meet-up next Tuesday.

This Brian Pattern poem is a love poem but always makes me think of that first night in hospital after my DD and DS were born (both in the early hours)

The Transformation

You are no longer afraid.
You watch, still half asleep,
How dawn ignites a room;
His rough head and body curled
In awkward fashion can but please.

His face is puffed with sleep.
His body distant from your own
Has by the dawn been changed.
And what little care you had at first
Within one night has grown.

You smile at how those things that troubled you
Were quick to leave,
At how in their place has come a peace,
A rest once beyond imagining.

Your bodies linked, you hardly dare to move;
A new thought has now obsessed your brain;
'Come the light,
He might again have changed.'
And what you feel
You are quick to name,
And what you feel
You are quick to cage.

You watch, still half asleep,
How dawn mishapes a room;
And all your confidence by the light is drained
And still his face,
His face is still transformed.