as i watch the evening’s shadows crescent 
your face below the brim of your ballcap, blue 
gaze fixed & focused, coltish 
limbs growing infinitesimally
stronger & more balanced each day, listen
to the cheers of the crowd, your name
on strangers’ lips as you wind up
& release each steady pitch –

strike one!      
                    
                  two!             
                            
                         three! he’s out!  

that i am the one who bestowed
it upon you, that your heart
& blood & bones
could have bloomed within my own 
flawed & blemished body, that you
were once a tiny seed, some secret love
note penned & folded, 
tucked away inside me.