Infant Night

Listening - always listening:
the vixen yowling in frozen gardens,
the higher pitch of nighttime hums,
even the wheeze of close breathing
can galvanize a sudden heeding.
A far-off siren goes and comes
and goes again. When sleep arrives,
still you strain above the silence
to catch a hall-clock loudly ticking
or the impromptu creak of floorboards.
All night, through muffled snores,
you dream of little needful cries.