Dried behind the ears,

Swaddled in soft fresh garments,

pursing its lips and seeing a groping mouth

toward nipples where the white milk is ready

You who have seen this love's payday

of wild toiling and sweet agonizing.

You know being born is important

You know that nothing else was ever so

important to you.

You understand that the payday of love is so

old,

so involved, so traced with the circles of the

moon,

So cunning with the secrets of the salts of

the blood,

It must be older than the moon, older than

the salt.

                                        Carl Sandburg