To A Daughter I'd Be Proud to Have
Location
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.