Il dono tra le pieghe

The offering is addressed to the child. Its weight will have to be accepted elsewhere, among those who hold him. This does not make the address mistaken. He can already be singled out in a way that he cannot yet be left alone.

To place something in his keeping requires an alteration in the keeping of him. Room must be made without removing what sustains him; the hands that approach depend upon hands already occupied. An account of the exchange would ordinarily begin too late, with the arrival of the thing.

There is also the covering to consider. It passes between those who are counted separately. A fold can be moved to accommodate what has arrived, though the body beneath it still requires the same warmth.