To a Teenage Daughter
In my belly,
in my arms,
and on my back—
when did I stop
carrying you?
What was the moment that,
unknowingly,
I eased you to your feet
for the last time?
What’s final hides
its own finality.
And yet, I still can feel
the easy squeeze of thighs
wrapping my waist, the pinch
of moistened fingers
on my shoulders
as I bounced you off to bed,
snug on my back, a camel
bounding on a carpet desert.
When did you grow
too heavy for my hold?
When did I grow
too heavy for your comfort?
When did Love’s grasp
morph to letting go?
Sometimes in sleep,
my arms are icy boughs
arching above a black expanse
of sky, lifting you to light,
feeling your light
body slowly slipping
from my branches.
What was the moment that,
unknowingly,
I eased you to your feet
for the last time?
What’s final hides
its own finality
What do you carry, unknowingly,
of me?
Lynn Hess is a retired middle-school English teacher who also conducted weekly poetry-writing workshops for children in grades K through 8. She will forever teach in her dreams. Her poetry has appeared in literary journals including Blackberry, The Spoon River Quarterly, Encore, Aeolian Harp,The Berkshire Sampler and The Red Eft Review. Where Tigers Roar in Silence, a book of her poetry for children, was published by Lime Rock Press
