For My Daughter
As a child I never knew
there were foods my mother wouldn't eat
and animals she didn't like
like those without, or with too many, feet
So I ate my vegetables
and played with snakes and spiders
and thought we were so alike
just like I thought I saw inside her
And I have a little girl now
just like my mother did
and she's trying to be just like me
even the Me I thought that I had hid
There's so much I want to teach her
and some things I'd rather not
So it's time I change my ways
'cause I'm giving all I've got
No longer will I deny
each compliment I'm given
wrinkling up my nose
like they're both lying and forgiven
I'll stop sticking out my tongue
like I'm purging some cat's hairball
after sucking it in too long
for my mirror, mirror on the wall
And while I may never earn any
I'll stop fearing the trophy's weight
like charms on that fictional chain
forged as the greedy man's fate
I'll give up all the punchlines
where I'm the only joke
I won't say I'm smart as an ox
and she won't bear that yoke
'Cause she'll learn to be as big
or as small as I show her how to be
And I don't want her to box herself
The way I've boxed in me
So I'll teach her many things
but I will not teach her can't
It's time to broaden my horizons
and time to close this rant
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