Becoming

I am a man standing at the edge of himself,
watching the tide of my life shift,
pulling me toward something greater,
something heavier, something holy.

In one week, I will no longer be just me.
I will be a father.
And though I have known love,
though I have given and received,
this love will be different,
not chosen, but written into my blood.

I have carried a thousand fears,
worn them like armor,
but nothing prepares a man
for the moment his name changes to Daddy.
Nothing readies his hands
for the weight of something so small,
yet powerful enough to redefine him.

She is not here yet,
but already, she moves inside a world
I cannot see.
And I wonder,
when she takes her first breath,
will she take a piece of mine?
And I know I will never breathe the same again,
knowing my heart now beats
in another chest.