Conceptual

Life begins within life begins
Within life begins within in life.
By your father's count, Sequoia,
You're reaching your third beginning,

The first since birth, the second since
Conception, counting only those
Transitions involving a new
Being, new thing in existence.

This time you're conceiving yourself,
You're emerging as a human.
The imaginary glimmers now,
Like a distant star approaching.

As you put your dolly to bed
And feed your plastic toys their snacks
And mime eating with a big grin,
Your life as a theorist begins.

I'm as spooked as fascinated.
All the favorite folk exemplars--
Caterpillars, tadpoles, acorns--
Inadequate analogies

For the transformation of flesh
Into ideas about the world.
Your soul, whatever it isn't,
Announces its mystery now.

You can't see it yet, but I can.
The day will come when you know it,
When you know yourself as a self.
Then the real wondering begins.