~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cradled with Care

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’ve watched you

cradle your daughter with care

Reading her bedtime stories

and tenderly brushing her hair

Holding her gingerly

when she needed you

And letting her go

when it was wise to

Cheering her at games

and listening to her practice

the same song

over and over again

I saw you quiver

as she climbed on the bus

leaving home for the first time

It once again just “us”

I  saw you walking

into her room

You picked up her scarf

and inhaled her perfume

She’ll be here at Christmas

and Easter – no doubt

But it does seem like forever

since our daughter moved out.

Wendy/2012

Silly me made myself cry again.  Writing poems sometimes takes you places you were not expecting.  I was writing about a friend and her daughter and by the time I got to the middle of this poem –  I could see how this might be our own story, one day.  So my daughter looked over from the family computer to ask if I was crying. ” Yes,”  I said.  She did not ask why, and I decided not to say why.  I want to be able to let go when it’s wise.

Blessings ~ Wendy