Snug

Your head
no longer fits snugly under my chin.
You say you want cuddles,
but invariably
you mean wriggles.
Some days you are a tiny dictator,
pounding your insistent fist,
and wailing your thwarted will
across the horizon,
biting your displeasure,
an imprint on my skin.
The cat is no longer safe.
And yet.
Before the sun comes up,
when you call me,
your voice a battery-powered crackle
through the walls,
I pull you in
and wonder what sweetness
another day with you will bring.