Saturday, August 6, 2011

My Daughter Asleep

My Daughter Asleep

And so to these

unspoken shadows

and this broad night

I make

a quiet

request

to the

great parental

darkness

to hold her

when I cannot,

to comfort her

when I am gone,

to help her learn

to love

the unknown

for itself,

to take it

gladly

like

a lantern

for the way

before her,

to help her see

where ordinary

light will not help her,

where happiness has fled,

where faith

will not reach.
3rd stanza from My Daughter Asleep by David Whyte
River Flow, New & Selected Poems, 1984-2007

David Whyte is one of my very favorite poets. He wrote a particularly poignant piece that resonates so deeply with me, even after my own daughter is grown and in a home of her own. I think the chord it strikes concerns the duality of our deep desire and/or fear for our child's well being.

Well being is so much more than simply physical health and safety...

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