Daughters by Frances Koziar

I teach you
what I once taught her, guide
your steps through this dance
of parenthood, but each word
is an echo, and I remember
how she picked this up faster
or that up slower; I remember
how I laughed with another child
that you will never meet; I
remember that she was the star
of my life before your miracle ever
dawned on the grassy plains
of this world. You offer me

a second chance, but I still remember
the first, see bright eyes—fading now
as they are spun and twisted through time
like flax on a weaver’s loom; I taught her,
but it is her hand that now guides mine,
her hand that completes our circle
of giving, tying into infinity
this tapestry of family, half
in this world and half
in the other.

Frances Koziar has 80+ pieces of prose and poetry published in over 50 different literary magazines. She is a young (disabled) retiree and a social justice advocate, and lives in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.