Simple Pleasures

I wrote this in February of this year, and I just rediscovered it in my notebook this morning:

Oh, Antonio of round and ruddy cheek,
How could I have guessed before you came
That there would be such simple pleasure
In being your one and only "Mama,"
A word you say from deep within your chest
So that it sounds like a sacred Buddhist chant:
"Mohhh-maaaaaahhhhhhh!"

I treasure the sound of your voice
Filled with irrespressible jubiliance
Over things I forgot to notice long ago.

"Ball!" you exclaim, never tiring of its
Infinite roundness and unfailing bounce
Against the world's hard surfaces,
Although you have not yet come to
Understand its lesson of resilience
In the face of your own tumbles.

But my favorite times are when we
Laugh together over some silly sound
Or a face I make to get a smile.
Once we start to laugh, it's hard to stop.
It's a contagious itch, and I love
To hear the sound of your laughter
Coming from deep within your belly:
The sincerest utterance of joy I have
Ever heard.

Oh, Antonio, of fine and flaxen hair.
I press my nose against your sweet
Toussled head and am filled with an
Aroma as full of new promise as a
Spring morning, and I close my eyes
To think again of your laugh - a
Raucous, robust sound that bursts,
Unrestrained from deep within you.

I live for that laugh. I dance to its
Cadence and timbre in my ear; and
When you throw your arms around
My neck and kiss my cheek, I know
How very lucky I am.

I love your wildness. You are the
Spark that rekindles my interest in
The world anew each day. It simply
Isn't true that we humans are better
Off the more we know. You are the
Proof that the greatest joys of life
Lie in the simplest of pleasures,
Those things that have been here
All along right under our noses:
Ball, mama, cookie, tree, car, daddy,
What more does anyone need, really?