Echo

A new grandmother
shares with me her story of the baby's first steps
and the light shining from her
is an echo
of the light that shone from me
when my baby
who came to me so late in my life
first walked
first spoke
first loved me.

In the echo of her story
I feel again
the small hand
and see again the faltering, drunken steps
and the laughter
in her and in me
when she lands on her bottom
and our eyes meet.

And I look to my future
and wonder if
or when
I will be the new grandfather
and will tell my story
of first steps
once again.