My Cart 
Login 

Previous

For my Veterinarian Daughter
by
Carol Amato


Next
 

In the late fall of many years ago,
            as we watched the dappled
black and orange fluttering slow motion
to dry new wings,
her eyes filled with awe,
then tears.

She thought I meant
forever
when I said this might be
the last one,
meaning the last of the season
so late to migrate.

I held her close
and told her the journey story:

Monarchs, traveling on spirals of wind
for thousands of miles,
reach the wintering grounds
and, like new leaves, fill the trees
and later miraculously return
on glory wings.

She hugged me then,
relieved by my surety,
but I didn't say forever.

When she's older
she will learn how life wraps itself around
impermanence.

See already how she cares,
how she prepares with wonder and caring
for the work of her very being.


© by Carol Amato.
Used here with the author's permission.

 

 


Carol Amato says poetry has allowed her to assume many lives—to date, a much-longed-for job as a waitress, a slightly mean-spirited child, an escape artist seeking to find herself, an adventurer soaring with raptors, and more. Carol’s realities include being a language-learning specialist, a natural science educator, and the author of 11 books for Barron’s Educational Series and Backyard Pets, Nature Activities Close to Home, published by John Wiley & Sons. Carol, who lives in Boston and Cape Cod, considers herself fortunate to have both an active imagination and enough reality to survive.

    


Post New Comment:
Anastasia:
Beautiful and moving! Thank you, Carol!
Posted 02/11/2024 04:55 PM
Wilda Morris:
Beautiful! "...life wraps itself around impermanence." So true and well-expressed.
Posted 02/06/2024 09:55 AM
Denise:
Such a vivid picture of beauty by way of glory wings traveling on spirals of wind. Assurance while living with impermanence. All so beautifully said and shared.
Posted 02/05/2024 07:17 PM
Alarie Tennille:
Your poem made me teary. I love that in a poem. Thank you.
Posted 02/05/2024 06:46 PM
Lori Levy:
Touching poem.
Posted 02/05/2024 03:22 PM
Judy:
Absolutely lovely, Carol, I especially love your fourth stanza!
Posted 02/05/2024 10:29 AM
michael escoubas:
Lovely comment, Carol, on connections between life cycles via weather conditions and the human condition. One can almost see hordes of winged creatures, fluttering in dark clouds toward the coast.
Posted 02/05/2024 09:56 AM
wayne.goodling@yahoo.com:
I'm 77 years old, facing health problems, and re-learning "how life wraps itself around impermanence." Thank you.
Posted 02/05/2024 09:29 AM
cork:
I love the depth!
Posted 02/05/2024 08:59 AM
NormaB:
So beautiful especially this: how life wraps itself around impermanence.
Posted 02/05/2024 08:24 AM


Contents of this web site and all original text and images therein are copyright © by Your Daily Poem. All rights reserved.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Purchasing books through any poet's Amazon links helps to support Your Daily Poem.
The material on this site may not be copied, reproduced, downloaded, distributed, transmitted, stored, altered, adapted,
or otherwise used in any way without the express written permission of the owner.