FLUENT IN AN UNKNOWN TONGUE

Partly in jest, my father once
Described my mother as a beautiful spy
Fluent in many languages; if we found out
Where they were spoken she would prove
Invaluable. It seems to me that the baby
Who has taken to hanging around here
Might have understood her perfectly;
Almost five months old, she orates at length
And then pauses. If I had my mother's gift
I would nod and eloquently reply.

FASHION ADVICE FROM A LORD OF THE DEAD

Being possessed of great style
As well as being a chthonic god
The Baron does not show surprise
When I introduce the baby to him
Though he shakes his pale head
"If I were in dire straits," he says
"It is just possible that I might wear
An orange striped stretchy
Stippled with pumpkins. But never --
No, never! -- would I also have on
Fuzzy pink socks."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Reports that a baby girl
Has been hanging around my house
Are true. The public is urged
To stay calm. My crack team of advisers
Believe she is, at for the moment,
Using her formidable powers
To learn how to sit upright
And presents no immediate danger.

AN ADDITION

That both of you died does not mean
I have no duty to send you news.
Time, I hear, is different for the dead;
Perhaps I speak to to you at 20
In college and in love so that I seem
An unlikely correspondent, a man of 63
Claiming to be your second son
Sending word that he is a grandfather
And you great grandparents
Of a skeptical child named Ginger.
By this token know me: I inherited the note
You sent, Mom, the day after your birthday.
Had you not changed your mind,
I had never been conjured into being
How unlikely a thing it is to exist!
Next to that, conversing with my dead
Is all in a night's work.