Sleep While the Baby is Sleeping

for my daughter, Maya Lou Hawke, born 3.10.10.

at various times / after
my daughter wz born
my mother wd say
sleep while the baby is sleeping

sleep while the baby is sleeping
she'd call / sing-song insistent
in that no-nonsense
west indian woman way
of us all

sleep while the baby is sleeping

bt it wz quite some time
before i realised / these words
were not about shut-eye between feeds

sleep while the baby is sleeping

wasn't saying what it seemed / but

as well as we bear our children
us women must also learn
to dream