To My Two Year Old Daughter, a Quarter Century Later

Memorial Park, Athens, Georgia

October 30, 2010

I wandered through Bear Hollow

       with you once again

              bouncing lightly on my shoulder

       sharing fresh Saturday memories

                     under blue crystal sky

                     and golden yellow sun

              in a time gone by.

You delight today

       in the open possum playscape

              with pale coat female

       and her homely prehensile tail,

                     licking peanut butter from the perch

                     and gently grooming

              her dainty pink nose.

       You watch, intent

       and I hold your tiny hand

              tight against the decades

                     that press, inexorable

              blurring memory,

                            softening vivid presence.

                            Yet my breath still catches

                     when I recall

       a quarter century hence

              your wispy blond curls

                     framing the face of delight itself

                            as you laugh

                     and your spirit shines

                     through other eyes today -

              though differing in hue and homeland,

                            they share the same sparkle.

And I am gray presence, passive

              witness to their wonder

                     which they will carry

                            into unknown worlds

              that you will build together

                     from the hopes and embers

       we leave behind.