~My Daughter's Hand~

I took my daughter by the hand...we raced to greet the sun...I didn't sweep the steps today, but I remembered how to run.


We traced the fenceline to the pond and watched the polliwogs...now she knows how tadpoles turn into hopping frogs.


She reached her hands up to the sky, a swallow fluttered by...she flapped her tiny wings...so sure that she could fly.


I didn't wash the dishes...my bed it went unmade, but we saw some Easter lilies
And we danced and sang and played.


She watched a pretty butterfly emerge from it's cocoon...my daughter's changing also
And growing all too soon.


You see, she is the butterfly...a vibrant summer rose. Her youth is such a fleeting thing, just like the wind that blows.


I didn't do the laundry...I didn't sweep the floor, because my little girl needs me...to wander..dream..explore.


I didn't clean the house today...I didn't dust the stairs, in twenty years, no one will know or even care.

But I have helped my little girl to a gracious woman grow, in twenty years the whole wide world will turn their heads, and see, and know.


Patsy Gaut