Burning thy bridges—dost thou make you happy, my daughter? <br />When all is said and done, will you not be standing in a heaping pile <br />of ash and soot? Of the wreckage of a life once so well-lived; <br />I love you, my daughter—but I cannot stand by to see this: <br /> <br />You, clawing at the grains of society and tearing up the foothills of humanity <br />with your savage beauty and fiery intellect— <br />An intelligence that is aflame, my daughter, <br />but one that is no doubt channeled in anger & lust. <br /> <br />I tried to keep you safe from the evil of this world, my daughter, <br />however it sank into thy bones. —Where is the peace I patiently taught you <br />by example? —I see no signs of it in thy thrashing heart. <br />I ran out of ideas, my daughter, and now I am gone— <br /> <br />Yet you live on, in my footsteps, in my memory, bearing my name. <br />I hesitate to say: Make me proud. Although when you feel my love— <br />like a fulfilling contentment in your dreams—wake up with it in thy heart <br />and be brave enough to keep it lit throughout the day. <br /> <br />And that, my daughter, <br />Is where you shall begin.<br /><br />S.J. Goldner<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-timeless-message-a-final-lesson/
