Elegy
elegy for an unborn daughter
in my dreams, I have a daughter. she has my smile, warm and stretching across her cheeks like it will burst. she has her father’s eyes—soft and gentle—and his laugh. she is perfect. I give her a beautiful name, and she is everything I wish for her to be. she is curious, always asks questions and tries new things and lives without my fear of failure; she is generous, never selfish, but builds firm boundaries; she shows kindness to each soul she meets. I teach her everything my parents taught me. she learns how to read, to escape into a story and to write her own. she learns how to proof a loaf of bread, how to cut butter into flour and dust berries in flour before adding them to batter. she learns how to love, how to be loved. her life is beautiful, free from worry and filled with joy.
By katherine j zumpano10 months ago in Poets
The Space We Share.
To those who had to grow up too fast, I am still a child. I will live your childhood for you. I should be grown up just like you are, but that little kid inside of me won’t let me. So I walk with her along the path to my childhood home. We play hopscotch and toss stones. I hold the hand of the kid you never got to be, and you play with us—both versions of me. The version that lives on in a house I no longer dwell in, and the current version of me who just can’t keep going.
By April Kirby.10 months ago in Poets
