Daughter

Daughter


And as they stretch, these woods
Dull sunshine
Leaking through gaps, thin and terrified
She runs after the rabbits
My daughter
Laughs to be here; young and living

She reminds me to live
To build with sand and water and wood
To appreciate Earth’s sons and daughters
Her moss and rain and rocks and sunshine
Her bumblebees, lizards and rabbits
To breathe, be not terrified

Of this truth which IS terrifying
What it truly means to live
Like the 4 year old naming the rabbits
Moving in-between suns
In places damp, cool and wooded
She is our daughter

When he calls her “Daughter”
We 3 know the lie, and are terrified
Looking forever away from the sun
Pretending to be alive
Ignoring the soft, welcoming woods
Where I take her to see the rabbits

The truth likes to skitter and hide. It rabbits
All focus on her, my daughter
Wanting to scream with truth at these woods
Crouch and tell her, terrify
Hurt her fragile life
When all she knows is sunshine

I will not eclipse her sun
She may chase rabbits
All her life
I won’t stop my daughter
I will stay terrified
Hiding, unlike her, deep in my woods

These woods have always terrified me, Daughter
Along with the sun, these rabbits mean my life