The child that you are,
living in an old man’s shell,
grabbing at glory,
while clinging to your tin crown.

Thumbing your nose,
at the good and noble,
you waste the voice given you,
as you sail into infamy.

Downy seed tops of milky white,
floating on the wind.

Memories of childhood,
blown away with a single breath.

The raggedy girl of childhood,
lived across a field of swaying grass.
Little tomboys finding ourselves,
running the summer down.

Days filled with splashing in creeks,
and catching bugs in our clasped hands.
Shinnying up trees in the heat,
drinking Kool-aid, our afternoon treat.

Wringing as much as we could,
from this time of innocence,
we struggled as children do,
to make sweet summer memories.

Outside my window, you howl through the pines,
like a dog moaning deep in the night.
Through the cracks in my window, you speak to me,
with a whistle of Arctic wind, squealing with delight.

White envelopes the landscape, blanketing all,
blinding those who venture into this wilderness.
Falling snowflakes encircle lumps of cars,
buried beneath this winter wonderland of ice.

The frosty wind slaps my face, with a stinging pain,
and like a robber creeping beneath my clothing,
you steal the warmth from inside.
Bracing against the wind, I head into the blizzard’s bite.

Do you really know about the me I’ve hid inside?
I’m not the girl who I once was, I’ve grown at last to rise,
above the world where I once stood, alone, all by myself,
masked in my own protection, setting “me” up on the shelf.

Do you know that I can whistle, just like other boys,
and climbed to distant mountain tops, to hike past all the noise.
No one knows the me who fought throughout the early years,
a woman now, who raged through life and fought to hide my fears.

Who really knows the me inside? No one, I still believe,
I’m much more than that little girl, who fought hard to be me.
I took that road least taken, ‘fore I heard a quiet call,
to be a woman understood, by one most important of all.

With loving hearts that cradle me,
and soothe my aching mind,
you’ve given me the strength I need,
to leave the past behind.

These wings I’ve grown are far beyond,
what I could ‘er foresee,
allowing me to soar beyond,
my past, both strong and free.

These broken wings are healing still,
and few can keep me down,
for deep within this soaring soul,
are journeys where I’m bound.

On this, a day of infamy,
where most recall wherein they stood,
when breaking news destroyed our world,
and left us shaken to our soul.

We held our breath and watched in fear,
while battling to hold back tears.
For none believed the images
we saw that afternoon.

Now three years past, we still can see,
the remnants of that awful day,
and feel it ripple through our land,
while still we bind our bleeding wound.

Hold fast to our integrity and cling,
to what our founders built,
fight on for what we know is right,
and honor those with thoughtful vote.