BLYTHE
I see you.
I hold you.
In my thoughts, securely.
I love you.
You are a future
I never dreamed of.
In my limited
And too-near vision
I never thought
Of something so clean,
So wonderful,
So new.
You must have been
A silent wish, a prayer,
I never voiced,
But always held so
Close like a hope
So dear that it
Was way, way inside.
Now, you are on solid ground.
We are waiting, and
I know you already,
In the many thoughts
And in faith fo so
Many lonely years.
You are my daughter.
You are my blithe spirit
Coming home again.
(Written January 16, 1982, 20 days before she was born.)
KEEPING YOU UP
It isn't easy.
It takes imagination, courage and
Great inventiveness.
It takes poetic insight,
Historical perspective, intelligence,
Strategic balance, mental
Agility, flexibility, and guile;
It takes a crooked streak and
Cajolling, jokes by the dozen, and even
A trick or tow; it takes planning
and purpose, it takes hope
And faith; it takes persistence
And perspicacity. It takes bribery
And salesmanship, threats,
And swindles by the hundreds.
It takes everything I've got and
Then a whole lot more.
Keeping you up past 9:30 is
The hardest thing I've ever done.
And, someday I'm going to do it.
WHISTLING IN THE DARK
Sometimes my view of
Things is so distorted
By selfish misinterpretations
And lack of patience
That -- to me -- I am all
Alone, fighting the battles
Of justice and righteousness,
For order and peace,
And everyone else is
Opposing these lofty goals.
In fact, they are all working
Subtly to undermine these
Greatly-to-be-desired outcomes.
Other times, I know I've blacked
Out reality, crawled into a
Box of my own creation, and I'm in
There playing "Name that tune"
With myself.
