Unabashed and
   unafraid.
We have told them
    a different story.
So they can stand
   bright and shinning
   between the stars.

We show them how
   to pray in notes of algebra,
   side-winged and eternal,
Rising,
   with the music,
   rising.

Skipping around the
   fireworks’ fountains, and
   sparklers dripping—
Energy and light,
They burn so
   ******* bright!

Yes, we are alike—
Arms spread like wings,
We dreamed the same,
   firelight dreams,
We dreamed the same,
   skipping dance dreams.

I turn my face away,
   push them up, and up,
   and into the night,
As high,
   as I possibly can.
Go on, so they can
   go on, and on,
So much brighter
   than me.
This small grace
   of dignity.
New and brave and lovely,

My daughters
   of women.
We are the space
   between our mothers,
Amid the calliope,
This is how we raise
   our daughters,
To  burn so ******* bright,
That it’s hard to
    ******* see.

Now you glow,
So you can go
   on
   rising.
And I will blow kisses up
  into the dark cradle of the sky.
Dream big, my baby girls,
Dream big,
And skip before
   you fly.  



--Annie Appling  7/6/12