Presence

I watch and learn so much from my daughter.  In part I learn the things I missed growing up.  It is probably the way with mothers and daughters, maybe fathers and sons.  She is able to be powerfully present to people in a way I wish I*d learned a whole lot earlier.

  

There are lessons I did not learn

As a child,

A teenager.

I learned them late.

My daughter has different lessons,

Attends a different school.

The curriculum

Is not the same.

Still I hope she learns

That simply being present

To someone

Transcends the differences.

There are not always words

To speak,

Problems

To be resolved,

Things to be fixed.

Sometimes there is no agreement

Possible.

Still I hope she learns,

Early on,

The power

Of her presence.