A Child's Hug

Today is Day 18 of National Poetry Month, and today's poem was inspired by NaPoWriMo's prompt to write a ruba'i (four-line stanza with an AABA rhyme scheme). I went a little further and wrote a rubaiyat (a ruba'i with multiple stanzas).

A Child's Hug
By Candace Shultz

My toddler said she wished to play
With kids she heard outside that day.
She never met these kids before,
But in the house she would not stay.

I told her that she could not go
With older kids I did not know.
She hurled herself upon the ground.
A horrid tantrum she did throw.

And by the time the whining stopped
The kids were gone, the sun had dropped.
My nerves were frayed, my anger high.
If not for love, I would have popped.

But then she asked me for a hug,
I picked her up from off the rug;
She wrapped her arms around my neck
And hugged me tight, warm and snug.

My daughter whispered in my ear,
"I love you, Mama." I filled with cheer.
The anger gone, I held her close,
"I love you too, my daughter dear."