when you were a little girl i used to hold your hand
and you would slip yours into mine quite automatically-
then a few years later, you were growing into YOU
and i would try to hold your hand and you would pull away-
declaring how big a girl you were;
tried to show me at every turn that you didn’t need any help.
and then you became a teen, quite full of yourself,
arrogant and always the drama queen (I may have had a hand in that)
but still, nonetheless, you were still blossoming into YOU
and I stood by, sometimes angry, sometimes sad, sometimes proud,
sometimes mad…
you still turning into this woman-child that I birthed.
Now, all grown up, family of your own and I find myself
sometimes wondering who is this person you’ve become and where
is the little girl that I often wish would show up when you call.
Most days I know she is gone, sometimes I think for good, but then
something happens and there, out of the blue, my little girl appears again.