When I opened my eyes, there you were.


You held my pudgy fists, you cradled my tiny body.
Inhaling that strange scent of new birth, like a summer rain of milk and honey, dotted with vanilla and sweet almonds.


When I opened my eyes, there you were.


It is the first day of school and I am jittery with excited energy



At a new place, at a new outfit. The great yellow bus bellows




Content. I board, kiss and wave to you.


When I opened my eyes, there you were.


You and Dad are at every play, every concert.



Watching my two minutes of fame. I can see




The stars in your eyes.

When I opened my eyes, there you were.

You shout my name, such triumph, such jubilance.


There must be a thousand people in the stands, but I can only



Hear you. I cut the very air to salute you.


When I opened my eyes, there you were.


Your smile so wide as they crown me in a sash of blue that



Swishes into the river of my white robe




No tears, not yet



When I open my eyes, here we are.



The air is still balmy in this wonderful, foreign place.




I promise to be the best woman I can be. This is not
Goodbye, it is reuniting yet leaving, roaming
together through a world not yet conquered. Now the tears come.