​Rockabye Baby

By Linette Rabsatt

the cradle has fallen

it was placed carefully

on the highest limb

in the soursop tree

sadly that tree was

overtaken by a passionfruit vine –

the friendly but deadly

climber that overtakes

whatever it grows on

so that cradle was bound

to fall – luckily on its bottom

the baby – unscathed

was not perturbed

as an adult would be

because he wasn’t taught fear

he couldn’t decipher

the screams that he could hear

after all the old people would say

that angels are always there

to soften any baby’s fall

so as much as that soursop tree

had gotten quite tall

and the passion fruit vines

made it a precarious resting place

that baby was safe

the cradle had fallen

but the occupant

was saved by loving hands