Just at the last bit of night,
all that you will become dawns on me–
I hear your voice and see your face in the new day’s light
and imagine you,
emerging into your now adult life.

You, somewhere else now, awaken and start
your day, fresh, strong, prepared finally —
new challenges, new tasks, a new way
of living free, self determined,
on your own.

No longer tied down to the old ways
free, now, to move ahead, making your own path
and finding your own future,
just like we had talked, just like we had both
dreamt, not that long ago.

I do not mourn our past, together, watching you
take those steps that have led to where you are now,
for I knew this day was coming, this is now your destiny.

You, now, all grown and strong, find your own way,
blossoming into who
you are meant to be, in all your strength and brilliance,
so clear to me, those possibilities, the first day I met you.

You hadn’t realized, then, what you could become,
what you will do,
this promising morning,
until you took a good look in the mirror
of your soul.

The tree in the front of the yard is about to bloom,
the metaphor for you, now, roots solid in the ground,
limbs reaching up to the sky, and blossoms
ready to open
to all that is good,
all this that has become
possible.

—- Neal Lemery, April 2013