Daughter
12:10 PM
Daughter
by Starr Jiang
My daughter
by Starr Jiang
My daughter
If there should still be color in the sky
I would take a brush and paint it white so that
you with your Magic Markers can color the stars and name
them
And when the world turns its cynical eye and demands,
“What do you know?”
You can point to the heavens and say,
“The universe”
When the trees in our garden are balding
I’ll hand you sheets of origami paper that
you can bend and crease into leaves
One by one you’ll tape them to the branches
you’ll look at the multicolored masterpiece –
and though the clash of pink and blue with probably play
with your OCD
you’ll look and you’ll know
that’s how it was always meant to be
‘Cause darling, I’d change the world for you
I’ll grow words into flowers we water
Wear on our sleeves like it’s done at high school prom
And though there’ll be strangers handing out roses on the
street
only our flowers can speak,
“This is me”
I’ll tape our eyelids to our skulls so that
We’ll be forced to look into each other’s hearts
and see worship the same god
It’s in the vagrant who lets the
voice of his violin slip out if his
cardboard box
It’s in the man who hears the
clack of drumsticks instead of keyboards at his
nine to five job
And in the carnage of sheet metal dreams and old love songs
we’ll find ourselves thinking,
“We’re not so different after all”
And I’ll take you, darling, by the hand
Point fearlessly at the road ahead
and ask
“Where do you want to go? Don’t be afraid,
Mama’s got you”
Forever. Always.
But I’d be lying to you in the worst of ways
‘cause baby there is nothing I can change
The world will still be our hamster ball –
we’ll run in circles and find ourselves
stuck
at the pedestal of someone else’s fall
Gaunt-faced secretaries will lend their sickly speech,
“Honey, don’t play in the mud,
you’ll dirty your jeans.”
Grandmas will plea,
“What do you want to be when you grow up?
Oh, don’t do that. Sweetie you’ll never
make it.”
Grass is green, the sky is blue
Black is evil, it’s where the bad kids play
No light, no God
Don’t let them take you away.
Get high off her countertop beauty
It doesn’t matter if your mom says your beautiful –
it comes down to one quiz on page 23E:
Are you a type A or type B?
Pray that you aren’t a C ‘cause then nobody will love you
But don’t worry ‘cause
you’re special
Just lose the hat and get rid of that god-awful scarf
Smile for the cameras, don’t come off so smart
Everybody will worship the ground you walk on
Hey, don’t look so scared –
You’re one of us
My daughter
You are one life form, one human on one planet
in one galaxy in a universe that stretches further
and further
apart
To the world, you are just another part of a whole
meant to be compartmentalized, sorted
in the machine that toils aimlessly to find our goals
But to me, you are everything.
Though they may sand down your edges
polish your scars
Know that there are some gears they cannot turn
If there should be darkness in the city night
let your eyes sparkle in spite of the absence of light
And though they may try to flip off your switch because
they believe dark is right
Don’t you dare apologize.
‘Cause baby, embrace your normality, your meaningless
existence
your phantom touch
Soil the jeans you hate keeping clean
Make the mistakes you’ve dreamed of making
I won’t lie; yes you’ll fade
But the question is: will you fade with sound and fury?
Or will you fade quickly, quietly, under a million stars
Knowing that though your time was short
You’ve managed to reach at least
One
Baby, if I could, I’d keep you close
Close the curtain on the science of fate,
the religion of probability
Dim the spotlight, mute the applause
I’d touch my forehead to yours and we’d fall
under the spell of time and space
But my time is over; it’s your play now
And although actors will come and go, try to take your lead
role
Rewrite your story, make it their own –
Don’t worry darling
‘Cause in the end
you’ll stand
alone
Conquered the stage, catching light on your palm
The roar of the audience a light breeze on your cheek as
you peer out into the open
Looking.
And in that moment
know that your mother is here
not to change the world
but to love you
Forever. Always.
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