Inspired by my daughter Lorena, my Blondie of the endless dream, who surely teaches me at least as much as I can possibly teach her, more, calling me from assignment with AmeriCorps in Iowa just as she was called in for disaster relief by the Red Cross on Mother's Day 2003 to Alabama... Blondie, you are my hero. Teach me to believe like you believe...
Teach me, baby, take my hand
as I watch your first faltering step,
I learn again to walk -
you show me fall and rise,
and rise again, without end.
This spark you have,
this viva la Blondie,
electric giggle and verve,
intoxicated with your own youth,
and the universe reborn
precisely for you, bundled light –
this is how one takes the bite.
Little girl, teach me, to grab hold
as you do – with stubborn belief,
insatiable gusto, bottomless appetite,
lick life clean to the bone
and suck the marrow,
even when impaled
with growing pains, you stretch
and stretch beyond
the last possible snap,
then take off again.
Is this how it’s done?
Baby, teach me to walk
over glass, under hail, on fire
and skimming the water,
show me to dance,
now when I tire,
teach me beauty and faith
of fairy tale style:
good will overtake,
the dark forces succumb,
when I’ve been losing
too many battles with fading sight
through the darkening shadows
falling over my eyes.
Child, teach me a miracle,
that way that you have
of knowing, simply knowing
with steely belief
the seas will part
if I only learn to take
that first impossible step.
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