A Gift from My Daughter, Age 2

You burst into our world like a butterfly

Stretching from your chrysalis of infancy 

Into this beauty you wear

Beautifully unaware

I promised myself I wouldn't contribute

To the inevitable smudging of your clear sight
And so when I see your precious face
I stand before the mirror and rejoice

I stand on the scale and celebrate
I pick out clothes with joy
Choosing to be glad in this body before you

Before you learn anything else

And your little presence

Has showered on me this huge gift:
I look in the mirror and rejoice

Because I see you

This - the nose that will be yours someday

The freckles (yours, so far just two delicious drops),

The hair, the chin, the smile-lines

All mine, but also, inevitably yours.

And you

You are unbelievably beautiful.

And so I
Must be beautiful too.