Nici’s Sixteenth Birthday

Nici’s sixteenth birthday, loving and
self-confident, chasing rainbows and
friends, I cry for the passage of time
when I am alone, the short, brief mo-
ment she belonged to me as a little
child almost gone

Asserting herself she becomes wiser
and braver, we do not clash as we give
her freedom to develop her strength,
she is very superior, looks down on
her mom as a kind of archaic child
while I believe

Kids bring direct connections to faith,
hope and energy and should be allowed
to teach their elders, she loves being in
charge, taking the lead, she gets the op-
portunity to be the lady of the house
in her childhood home

Testing herself before she faces the world
I keep my tears to myself, she delights in
being grown-up while I quietly Iament the
loss of my little girl

12 September 2009