Daughter

Planting a tree for my future daughter

so she’ll have a patch of shade to read under,

to hide from the house 

when the walls get too tall,

and advice from her mother

means nothing at all.

Who taught her to climb the branches above

that stretch to the sky in measure of my love? 

I’ll yearn to wrap her

in arms held so tight,

but learn to let go

when time feels just right.

Running through sprinklers and speeding down roads

she will tear up the world wherever she goes.

I’ll stand there watching

through the open window,

and she’ll look back laughing

in her heavenly glow.