Telling secret stories in the language of a toddler,
Giving chocolate kisses that lingered on my cheek,
Showing the wisdom of a grownup in her sly, easy grin
Matched with comedy timing as sharp as it is oblique.

–

She won my heart in her first five seconds of life
Blinking at me with eyes that could not yet see,
Her sticky hand folded into mine without thought -
The same way her presence defined who I was to be.

–

This treasure, a pearl, so perfect and rich with promise
Grows wise and wary yet sharp-minded and kind.
The moment we met was my first as a grown man,
And she is the first scrap of myself I will leave behind.

–

How can one be so young and yet so impossibly whole?
Within you, the center is steady and growing every day.
A dozen years you have thrived despite odds against you,
And the maze that amazes within you grows in every way.