Daughters

What arises in you, my daughters,
on this summer day?
If I could still this moment
of joy and hold you
forever in its embrace, I might.
Do you feel stirring in you the need
to hold life against your breast?
Do you feel stirring in you that
which through me
gave birth to you both?
My kittens, purring in my lap,
content with the perfect fullness of this moment,
I know the sound of you
and the smell of you
and the shape of you
in my lap purring.
So you reach out to life's purring,
holding the kitten (as I held you) in the morning light.

The distance between us grows as you grow:
the room between us,
the window between us,
the yard between us.
In time's turning
the fence will come between us
and then
we will be separated by the road and more.

So I set my gaze upon you both
that I might hold in my heart forever
the delight of this day,
as you look toward me
daughters of my being,
as you look away from me,
daughters of my being,
as I place the photograph of this day
in the album that grows in my memory
as your unfolding becomes remembered in still life;

As you are called from me
still will I remember
life purring in you
(gift of me)
seeking
life
still.