Babysitting the Next Dalai Lama

for Kathryn Gessner

They said he said the next
Dalai Lama might be found
outside Tibet —
can you imagine
what it might be like
to babysit?
Not the actual infant,
but before,
for just a day
to harbor
just a spirit, such a spirit,
before it’s joined
to form?
Practising today,
I pretend the child
is at play,
sitting on a small mat
in a chamber
of my heart.
I move through
my work attentively —
I want to nurture
honestly and not deceive,
and so I breathe
more consciously and deeply,
be open to the joy
in every fold of laundry,
let my hands find
loving-kindness
in each pocket
that I turn.