May they never be lonely at parties
Or wait for mail from people they haven't written
Or still in middle age ask God for favors
Or forbid their children things they were never forbidden.
May hatred be like a habit they never developed
And can't see the point of, like gambling or heavy drinking.
If they forget themselves, may it be in music
Or the kind of prayer that makes a garden of thinking.
May they enter the coming century
Like swans under a bridge into enchantment
And take with them enough of this century
To assure their grandchildren it really happened.
May they find a place to love, without nostalgia
For some place else that they can never go back to.
And may they find themselves, as we have found them,
Complete at each stage of their lives, each part they add to.
May they be themselves, long after we've stopped watching.
May they return from every kind of suffering
(Except the last, which doesn't bear repeating)
And be themselves again, both blessed and blessing.
"Prayer for Our Daughters" by Mark Jarman, from Bone Fires: New and Selected Poems. © Sarabande Books, 2011. Reprinted with permission.
This poem was posted on the Writer's Almanac yesterday.I am a daughter,am the mother of a daughter.One of our great fears in life for our daughters is that they "should not be alone at parties", those real parties that are social events or marathons or the grand yet complex party we call our lives.I especially like the part that says" if our daughters forget themselves ,may it be in music".I would add to that ,may our daughters sometimes forget themselves and the burdens they carry with themselves,so music,gardens and enchantment is plentiful and in their reach.
and the deepest wish of any parent for their child at all times in life,"And
may they find themselves,as we have found them,Complete at each stage of their live".
today and all days,this is my deepest wish for my daughter and all daughters.I thank the poet for expressing these heartfelt wishes.
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