Remembering a Four-Year-Old's Birthday Party

Lily, do you remember the seaside

where you dashed across the sand without shoes,

laughing like you tumbled down a hillside,

all while your dad likely wanted to snooze?

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Lily, do you remember the big pool

where you swam and swam from morn till past noon,

the ocean a backdrop like a blue jewel

that made all the adults there want to swoon?

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Lily, do you remember the pink cake

that I thought might smear your pretty white dress,

your smile wide till your cheeks felt an ache,

and all those gifts over which to obsess?

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Lily, you had turned only four and yet

you‘d had a summer you’d never forget.