To Allie, on Learning to Walk

She’s mobile now, her two tiny feet propelling her
onward into a world previously out of reach
of her diminutive hands that desire touch,
desire grasping and turning color and shape
into form, into substance held, clutched, possessed,
these shapes and colors turned sensate into texture;

and balanced, bipedal now, this new view, much higher
than a crawl, offers her life a new perspective,
down, behind her, now further away and up so much closer,
her hands reaching out to connect, to explore,
to touch and discover the unseen, the vaguely seen,
the now seen, touched and solid, grasping reality;

and with one foot, tentative, moving onward, balancing
and balanced, one foot teetering closer to the unattainable,
the unreachable, closing the distance, so close,
a shorter, closer, reachable distance into the world.