Joy Ladin captures both a parent’s love and a sense of deep loss in this villanelle.
—
Letter to My Daughter
You leave no wounds that will not heal
but one won’t go away.
I can’t tell you how I feel,
I can’t – bright and slippery as a seal,
you are a word I cannot say.
You leave no wounds that will not heal,
you leave, you wound, you heal
somehow, somewhere, that’s what you say.
I can’t tell you how I feel.
Remember how we cheered the circling seal,
umbrella-less, in Central Park rain?
You leave no wounds that will not heal
but you leave, I leave, that’s the deal
you and I have somehow made.
I can’t tell you how I feel.
I cheer your soul, bright seal,
swimming farther, oceans, away,
slicing water whose wounds all heal,
who cannot tell you how it feels.
***
Read more of Joy Ladin’s poetry, and watch her TedX talk on gender transition.
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Photo by Cristian Santinon/Flickr