To A Daughter I'd Be Proud to Have

Wed, 10/29/2014 - 16:49 -- ens13

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I wish you would know to love yourself

before you learn to love the boy down the street

with eyes like gems too easily broken.

 

I wish you would know that you are not a rug

nor carpet nor pavement nor asphalt

and thus you should not--will not--be stepped on.

 

I wish you would know that Waterloo and Watergate

and all the scandals in between were big deals

because they only happened once in a lifetime.

 

I wish you would know that not everything is the last battle;

that you will fight countless skirmishes

that all of this grandeur and drama do not befit.

 

I wish that you would know that the phrase "I don't know"

is not a dirty sentence and that those who call it so

are those who will never be able to get past their ignorance.

 

I wish that you would know that your worth as a human

is not dependent on your age, your gender, or anything else

so wholly unconnected with the miracle of your life.

 

I wish that you would know that you are made of diamonds

that are just as shining and glittery and special

as they are unyielding and completely unbreakable.

 

I wish that you would know that softness does not exclude steel

and that it is possible to love and want and yearn

without at all compromising your strong inner iron.

 

I wish that you would know that just because you are put down

does not mean that you are meant to stay down

but to get up stronger and better than you were before.

 

I wish that you would know that it is okay to still learn

and that you don't have to figure out yourself

even if everyone has already claimed to have done so.

 

You are not the Egyptian tombs--secret, hidden, dark;

you are every ray of every sun on every planet

and you are every hushed whisper between lovers

and you are every giggle from an infant's mouth.

 

You are stardust and fairy dust and even just

household dust because although you are incredible

you will not always see it or feel it and that is okay;

because it is not the touch of others

that turns you to gold--

you have always been precious.

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