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On Having a Little Girl

She looks at me with hazel eyes
And freckles on her sun-kissed cheeks.
These moments, gentle, still, and blest
Are ever-anchored in my chest.

I tell fair tales to her in bed—
Of knights and dames and fire and flight.
I fight the night to guard this girl
Who lights the dark within my world.

Our story ends always the same—
A stolen pause that won’t return.
In melancholy’s grasp, I pray:
Please keep us here, just one more day.

How cruel a world where this will end.
Can we stop time with one held breath?
“I’m growing up, Daddy, alright?”
“Alright,” I say. “Just not tonight.”

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Jacob Schultz is a physician who lives in Louisville, Kentucky.

3 Responses

  1. Paul Freeman

    ‘A stolen pause thT won’t return.’ Says it all, Jacob.

    Thanks for the nostalgia.

    Reply
    • Roy Eugene Peterson

      In line 1/Verse 2 should it be “fairy” and not “fair?”

      Reply

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