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and some other father at the club
says, has she flown the nest yet?
and it sounds so crude
you don’t want to answer.
You’re sitting on the sofa,
she’s behind you at the table,
she’s silent, you can feel her
growing up inside. You know
you mustn’t turn and look at her –
she’ll hate you for looking her dream
in the face.
Two years ago, she’d have come to sit
beside you on the sofa,
say nothing, put her head
on your shoulder.
Now, she’s in that between place, that place between.
In the between, she lives all the opposites. Simultaneously.
The world’s never been so exciting, all-possible,
or so scary, void; and these together;
she’s never felt so strong, or so vulnerable; both;
she knows she will be somebody; feels like nobody;
she’d like to have every boy, throw them away
to prove her power; yet wait to find if
there’s just the one; she wants both of these
(she, girl to goddess, Princess now a Queen,
she owns all men, yet gives herself to one) .
She’s living simultaneously in dreams
and chill realities.
You know all this,
and cannot, must not interfere.
This morning, you felt like the ideal family,
held in a golden glow of understanding.
Tonight, she’ll dress up for the boy and the dance, gloriously,
and you’ll be torn between fatherly pride
and the feeling that you’ve never, ever known her;
share that terrible place between
where there are only opposites.
Michael Shepherd
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Comments about this poem (! Daughter
by
Michael Shepherd
) |
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Click here to write your
comments about this poem (! Daughter by
Michael Shepherd
)
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Deva De Silva
(4/20/2009 9:18:00 PM) |
Michael, I loved this poem about living the opposites, love for your daughter, and the social behaviours... We live it and survive it all the same but I've not quite read it in such wholesome diction and tone before.
imagery-check.
originality-check.
loved it- check!
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Anjali Sinha
(2/28/2009 8:31:00 AM) |
OMG! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
such a beautiful poem
well penned
surely an A+++and 10++
anjali
(do read mine Thou my valentine)
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Caroline Weeks
(11/20/2008 3:38:00 PM) |
Oh, my God I love it! So eloquently penned; so rich with emotion; heartbreaking and silmultaneously uplifting, all the while real and ponderous.10 +++
Incredible work!
Caroline
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Tsira Gogeshvili
(2/25/2008 1:05:00 PM) |
Michae l, Yours sincere the frank relation to the daughter, simultaneously very painful and very finel... 10... Tsira
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Roger Cornish
(2/20/2008 1:16:00 AM) |
This is awesome!
Love your poetry.......
Roger.
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Shiza Khan
(12/24/2007 11:08:00 AM) |
beautiful poem..luv it.!
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Donall Dempsey
(9/25/2007 12:03:00 PM) |
This is beautiful. You give her the gift of your awareness and understanding in such a compasionate way and this is the only gift she could have taken from you and used to complete herself and stand before you...as who she is and...who she is going to be. And you too have learned how to be the you that can be near her and follow her(dazed and amazed) into her future. And this is the trueness of your love in that you give her what she needs and wants and not just that blind selfish love that people foist upon each other and wonder why it comes back unused. This is the kind of love that can create more love to create more love to...
love Donall Donall
love Donall Donall
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Penny Hemans
(9/6/2007 11:07:00 AM) |
Oh! now I understand where my own Father came from: -)) This is a truly enlightening poem for all parents; how can we go back and say 'Hi Dad, now I know what you were feeling? ' But at least we can go forward and smile at our own children and understand.... xxPenny
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marvin brato
(7/31/2007 4:34:00 AM) |
Filled with understanding for daughters whom you care so much when they 're babies, cute and vulnerable. Now that they are grown upw and wants freedom, all we can do is support them and give our advises as they soon leave to live their own. Quite sentimental but reality. Thanks sir for sharing.
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