The Weeping of Your Innocent Heart

—For Chelsea, my daughter

Your dreams, your face glow with innocence strong,
And everyday I listen to the loveliness of your song.
I cannot bear to tell you that one day soon, so soon,
The world you’ve come to love will sound a different tune.

Though now you sing about the gift of everything new,
One day soon so soon, you’ll sing in notes of blue
And the yellow sunshine of everyday
Will find shadows marked in darkest gray.

Your dreams will face and strain to bear all tomorrow’s things.
Your dreams will endure to find the end to all the world brings.
Your dreams will never change, only the songs you know.
Your dreams will tone in tunes of gloom and bend and dim your glow.
Your dreams will change and embolden the courage you show.
Your dreams will never change, only the singing of the songs you know.

The cracks my soul feel for you my sweet, sweet one
Are deeper than the cracks in time and older than the sun.
I’ll listen as your peace breaks into a thousand parts,
And you sing too soon the weeping of your innocent heart.