Take the long view

I've been sorting clothes again
Seems I do it every season

Boy, girl, boy, girl
Multiple piles scattered on the floor
Clothes to give away to friends
Clothes to give away to babies not yet born
Clothes to donate to strangers

Boxes marked
18-24 months
2-3 years
Pants, 6-7 years
Assorted winter coats
Sneakers, sandals, boots
Winter boots up front as the cold is coming

These clothes seem to rain into our house
I find them on the doorstep in unmarked bags
Sometimes they’re there in no bag at all
Lying on the steps waiting
To be brought in
For the children to grow

She's 17 months now but here I hold
A 5 year old girl's shirt
An unimaginable distance away
When she'll play big girl games
Brush her hair
Have those long spindly arms that children do
Tell me about her day
Have friends of her own
Wonder about the wider world

He’s four and wears a size five
But the size ten pants seem unimaginably big
He’ll be like the grade fives on the soccer field
Towering over the little ones
Kicking the ball over the goal
And whatever else ten year olds do
Which seems a mystery to me now

The piles vary in size
There will be no need to go shopping
With multiple winter coats
Already in multiple plastic bags
Labeled, sorted, stored

But in the sifting I travel
To a time still an imagination away
And I linger in the long view
That all these days and nights
Of love and caring
Of listening and learning
Will unfurl into beautiful children we have yet to know