From Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate, 2004-2006:
"Every child can be seen as a miracle, and here Minnesota poet James Lenfestey captures the beautiful mystery of a daughter."
Daughter
A daughter is not a passing cloud, but permanent,
holding earth and sky together with her shadow.
She sleeps upstairs like mystery in a story,
blowing leaves down the stairs, then cold air, then warm.
We who at sixty should know everything, know nothing.
We become dull and disoriented by uncertain weather.
We kneel, palms together, before this blossoming altar.
