On My First Daughter's Graduation

(6/3/11)

Gone are the days of little white cribs, and little white shoes, 

and one little white dress worn by four baby girls.

Gone are the ‘fiers, and aye-ayes and bluh-bluhs and blah-bees.

The bottles, the booties, the bonnets. The babies.

Here comes the first in her red cap and gown. 

She is brilliance and beauty and pride. She is grace.

And so ready to go out in the world and live up to her name.

Ready to forge the way for her sisters to follow, too soon, and too soon.

The second, with the fire in her hair and her eyes,

will blaze through her life with passion and strength.

And the third, like a sprite, will cajole her way through, 

so few will know the depths of her caring, the brightness of her soul.

And then there will be one, and how that time will fly.

Like it did with the first. And the second. And third.

Because time, like a playful child, doesn’t want to be caught or held or stopped.

And it won’t stop for her, with the curls and the song, it won’t stop at all.

But tonight-- tonight comes the first in her red cap and gown, 

So I will take this night and set it securely in my mind, securely in my heart,

With the little white shoes, and the little white dress.

And the four baby girls.