Her Voice

Holding your tiny hands to help you sleep

Holding you in my arms, pressing you against my lips

Watching the smallest of movements in your fingertips

So much more beauty in the ordinary moments

Than I ever could conceive

This flowering soul

Entrusted to me to name

I look into your face and know

I’ll always see the same

And in between the lines

Connected by fate

And in between the longing

For better ways to communicate

I find myself in unfamiliar waters

This piece of meat, my flesh and blood

Crawls inside of me, a cancer

Penetrates every single part of me

The recognition that I have a daughter

How the sound of her voice

Can improve my mood

How looking into her eyes and seeing my own

Proves to me the existence of the divine

This miracle of human design

Fears of the dead and dying resurface

And my focus becomes concentrated

Tomorrow is a promise to no one

Priority to arrow the purpose

To raise this child

To never let that divine spark die

To be raised by this child

By embracing what’s uncomfortable

And having faith in the why

To never sacrifice the potential for success

For fear of the failure that could come

To not limit the self to perfection or even greatness

The art, the beauty, and the fulfillment

Knowing the true path to happiness

Comes only through the expression

To embrace the paradox

That the only perfection found

Is found in the imperfection

To turn the hanged man upside down

And watch him dance

To embrace every shadow

Leaving nothing to chance

To embrace the world

And with it, all change

To embrace being wrong

And loving it the same

To have the faith

That everything truly is in its right place

The way life pummels you, to take it in stride

To be confident that you paid for this ride

To learn to be alone without the need

To look forward to love without the greed

To never allow the world to dictate the passions of the heart

To spit in the face of feeble judgments

And to turn it all to art

It’s inevitable

That one day I’ll be gone

And I won’t lie to promise you

That I know from the other side

I’ll be looking down

None of us knows for sure

What lies on the other side

Faith has served me in my life

But for yours, the choice is yours to decide

I know I’ll always be with you

If nothing else, then in my writings

Especially these lines

I love you little girl

But give yourself the greatest gift

And never forget to love yourself

ⓒ 2010 Shawn Michael Quinn