Sarah Kay

If I should have a daughter, instead of Mom, she's gonna call me Point B
Because that way she knows that no matter what happens,
at least she can always find her way to me

And I'm gonna paint the solar system on the backs of her hands
So she has to learn the entire universe before she could say:
Oh, I know that like the back of my hand.
And she's gonna learn, that this life will hit you, hard, in the face,
wait for you to get back up just so it can kick you in the stomach
But getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to remind your lungs
How much they like the taste of air

There is hurt, here, that cannot be fixed by band aids or poetry,
so the first time she realizes that wonder woman isn't coming,
I'll make sure she knows she doesn't have to wear the cape all by herself
'Cause no matter how wide you stretch your fingers,
your hands will always be too small to catch all the pain you want to heal
Believe me, I've tried

And, baby, I'll tell her, don't keep your nose up in the air like that
I know that trick, I've done it a million times
You're just smelling for smoke
So you can follow the trail back to a burning house
So you can find the boy who lost everything in the fire to see if you can save him
Or else, find the boy who lit the fire in the first place,
to see if you can change him
But I know she will anyway, so instead,
I'll always keep an extra supply of chocolate and rain boots nearby,
because there is no heartbreak that chocolate can't fix
Okay, there's a few heartbreaks that chocolate can't fix
But that's what the rain boots are for,
because rain will wash away everything if you let it

I want her to look at the world through the under side of a glass bottom boat
To look through a microscope at the galaxies
That exist on the pinpoint of a human mind
Because, that's the way my mom taught me
That there'll be days like this, there'll be days like this, my momma said
When you open your hands to catch
And wind up with only blisters and bruises
When you step out of the phone booth and try to fly
And the very people you wanna safe are the ones standing on your cape
When your boots will fill with rain and you'll be up to your knees in disappointment And those are the very days you have all the more reason to say "Thank you"
Cause there's nothing more beautiful
Than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline
No matter how many times it's sent away

You will put the wind, in the win some, lose some
You will put the star, and starting over, and over.
And no matter how many land mines erupt in a minute,
be sure your mind lands on the beauty of this funny place called life

And yes, on the scale from one to over trusting, I am pretty damn naive
But I want her to know that this world is made out of sugar
It can crumble so easily
But don't be afraid to stick your tongue out and taste it

Baby, I'll tell her, remember your Mama is a worrier and you papa is a warrior,
And you are the girl with small hands and big eyes who never stops asking for more Remember that good things come in threes, and so do bad things
And always apologize when you've done something wrong
But don't you ever apologize for the way your eyes refuse to stop shining
Your voice is small, but don't ever stop singing

And when they finally hand you heartache
And when they slip war and hatred under your door
And they offer you handouts on street corners, of cynicism and defeat
You tell them that they really ought to meet your mother

By: Sarah Kay