Connections

ALISON JONES, OXFORD, UK

Originally published May 2016 and republished with the express permission of the author.

Your loving arms are all the charms

I need when you keep me close,

feed me at the breast, I won’t protest

if you hold me all the time,

I’m yours and you’re mine,

we are together, finding our way

through this journey, at the beginning

of a new life, as I uncurl into being,

and you butterfly into a new

version of you, one you never knew,

could feel so much for one so small.

Nutrition’s not all I’ll get when I rest

comfy on your chest, to suckle and snuffle,

my hands uncurled in joy, as I sink down

into you, deeply held, at home there,

and you stroke my downy hair

giving me love and so many other things,

protection and immunoglobulins,

to guard me from things which would

make me unwell, but we are unaware

of these as we stare at each other

and hold the gaze, and you whisper

in the shell of my ear, “You’re my world,

my dear.”

Alison Jones is an LLL Leader, a writer, and teacher from Oxford. She is a mother to three children. She is passionate about breastfeeding and advocates for women and families.