Address to a lost daughter

Little girl, eyes sparkling with questions,
Speak to me now;
I am old in ways and oft forgotten.
Come to me, whisper into the cold of the night.
Deliver another dream of how it might have been.

Little girl, stir the woman you became,
light a tiny flame
that with kindness kindles one warm thought.
Smile for me, moisten eyes weary with life-
or else make a brazier of my heart should you depart.

Little girl, your voice will be heard
when all leave me;
Its truth immune to the final smother of time,
cleaving life's ties with a quiet coward.
It pours faith and hope into the chalice of love.