Lifting Off

Ralph Nazareth


The day I told my daughter about you
there were no special signs
to mark a beginning or an ending

There was I recall a passing storm
The Yanks were thrashing the Sox
The toast was burnt, and we were out of 2%

The great big bird with the red and yellow feathers
that shook her dreams as the spruce it landed on,
did not show

That day when I told my daughter about you
she became quiet and it seemed she grew
without warning

and taking on the colors she remembered
she lifted off the branch
without a doubt