FOR CLARA

For Clara:

i have no great pearls of wisdom to

spill out as gifts for your arrival and

i have no special proverb to give to

carry you bright-eyed and blameless

through this chaotic world  but ,

my wish for you is not a safe, boring, life

but one populated with the burdens of

your own choosing, some perhaps un-

foreseen,  but all naturally developing

along your road of bending slopes and

aspiring blooms as you build bone by bone,

sinew by sinew into the finest weave

this earth has known.

and when at last your path breaks up-

on the shoreline of an unspeakably

vast ocean, the terrain will meet your

steps with poetry and conviction and

you will be well-prepared to taste the

tang of the surf that will bear you

breathless into your next adventure.

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