spoiling her

home is a place where
things are
safe
warm
loving
kind
home is a place of
memories
yes
i spoil her when she's here
my baby girl
here is where she sleeps
when she is lonely
where she can rest from
the pressures
of work
of school
where she can be lazy
where she can laugh
where she can take long showers
walk with the dogs
in the woods of her rememberance
she is my
only
my only
little girl
and
now
gone are the days
of endless summers
swinging
flying
on
her
maple tree
rope
digging trenches in the sand
swimming hard
for my shoulders
gone are the days
when she laughed
and
splashed in her singing
bubble bath
gone are the days of
her
freedom
she is grown
she is a woman now

so

when she comes home
to her
fireplace
and
her
purple room
when she opens her
closet filled with dolls
and dresses
and
her shining medals
to feel safe again
i spoil her
yes
i spoil her
i feed her
i do her laundry
sometimes

i let her be

at home

it won't be long
in a fleeting instant
i will be old
she will be away
family of her own
her little girl
or
her boistrus
boy
scraping knees
playing hard
all sweat and sunshine
giving her memories
like cookies and milk
like ice cream and cake
blowing out the candles
of time

her purple room
will give way
her dolls and medals
gone
her playhouse
returned to the earth
her swinging rope
her gym
her
funny faces

and

i will remember
in my solitary memory
loving her
spoiling her
wishing
she were here
and
i will remember
spoiling her
laughing with her
doing her laundry
when she came home
when she came home
so long ago