Eleven

Every year without fail as the leaves crumple and dry

I am shocked as they fall at how time has flown by

“Tell me I’m ten” she says that birthday night to the last second

She used to want to turn older, but now suddenly she dreads it

It’s like she finally knows how quick it goes

So quickly I can’t even see it when she grows

And now I stand just a head above her when I hug her

And it threatens to kill me just how much I love her

She’s eleven - Some days she makes my hell a heaven

She’s a tween now, Middle School

But thank god she still hates boys, and books are still cool

She checks out the same novels from the same old library

I feel my childhood fingerprints in them and the weight that that carries

Because I lived in those worlds as a little girl

To escape the reality and cruelty of the world

Because I wasn’t confident and positive like her

I love the qualities I don’t have, when I see them in her

She’s eleven - You should see her be a best friend

Going on four years, she’s a loyal best buddy

But my baby can converse and be a friend to anybody

She enjoys education and creation and adult conversation

She’s inquisitive, so passionate and motivated

More a mini me than I ever would have imagined

But going in different directions with her passions

She’s the kid in the crowd explaining the ignorance of racism

Discussing evolution and humanity and innovation

She’s in the know because she cares to learn and grow

And I am just so proud of how it shows

She’s eleven - Independent and brilliant and beats me at chess

Going out in dirty old jeans with her hair a mess

Never out to be fake or impress - It’s what’s you see is what you get

She’s my puppy lover, my animal rights activist…

She’s my silly faced bird, my Friday night date

Quite a handful still when she gets irate

She’s a pre-teen

And she’s still my everything.