Untitled. (Spoken Word)

Baby girl *this* is a letter of apology.
This is to say I'm sorry.
Sorry that your mom is young so no one will give her a chance,

Sorry that it is so cold and bright out here and that sometimes you have to sit in dirty diapers. But know, beautiful girl, that we are all just waiting for a change.

And when you entered this world I did not ask if you were here alone but I did wonder what a nice girl like you was doing in a place like this.

And although your neck will not yet allow it I want to teach you to hold your head up high.

To uncurl those legs in a world where a woman's worth is still determined by how little space she takes up and so I want you to sprawl because the world needs more of you.

Your cries sing amazing grace.

Those eyes are an ocean of hope amidst the babble of CNN on my tv telling me the earth is melting and people are starving, another village is disappearing and somewhere children fight a war they are too young to understand.

I wanna' bottle your perfection, make an anti venom for hatred to create a fine mist of forgiveness over Israel, Iraq and the Whitehouse hoping for the peaceful world you deserve.

YOU are the reasons stars fall from the sky because they would rather die than not be near you.

You are a prairie sunrise, a warm sweater on a cold day,you're the month of may, you're everything good.  But this world likes to mess with perfect things and so I am sorry that it will not always be easy for you. 

I'd like to grow you a secret garden to keep you safe where there will be no roses because I just can't chance the thorns, instead we'll make jokes about tulips kissing you and forget-me-nots will spread like wildfire because no one could forget you if they tried.

But though you would stay pure and untouched I know that you are too strong for the kind of protection I want to offer you. 

You announced your arrival with a scream and I know you've got enough fight in that tiny body to carry you wherever you need to go. And as you grip my finger with your little hand I know even as I make apologies for this wounded world you've been introduced to that you will be part of the healing.

And I am sorry that contrary to Ghandi I am asking you to be the change I want to see in the world but I know you're small and you still need time to grow.  Time to save up your pennies and run through sprinklers, time to make paper dolls and daisy chains as you unknowingly begin to link together a future and though I have apologized for this imperfect world know as you grow that you're surrounded by beauty and if you ever start to become jaded just look for the hope I see in your eyes, hold your head up high, take up space and shine because the world needs more of you