Grow Slowly, Girl

Grow slowly, Girl.
... I’ll try to bring what’s best
... and let you pass the dappled day
... asleep upon my chest.
Dream gently, Babe,
... in whimsy whispered rhyme.
... Wake when you wish. Grow slowly, Girl.
The world has a way with time.












The world, little girl,
... has a bus to catch,
... a west-bound bus to the sun
... that makes the young wish to be old
... and the old wish to be young.
The world, little girl,
... is a clatter of heels
... a stumble down cluttered halls,
... a rush toward the flicker of neon
... and florescent painted walls.
The world knows all the short cuts,
... broad ways of a narrow sort,
... all the black-brick, back alley short cuts
... to things too soon cut short.
Yes, the world, little girl,
... has a bus to catch.
... It hasn’t the time to stay.
... It doesn't know where it’s going
... but finds the fastest way.

Grow slowly, Girl.
... I’ll try to bring what’s best
... and let you pass the dappled day
... asleep upon my chest.
Dream gently, Babe,
... in whimsy whispered rhyme.
... Wake when you wish. Grow slowly, Girl,
... The world has a way with time.
.
© Copyright 1985, TK, Patterns of Ink
Originally entitled: "To Emily" 1985 but broadened because we eventually had three daughters and we all enjoyed similar naps as the one in the photograph, and the whisptered hope of this poem was shared with all of them. I might add that the thougts were also heeded by all three who are now mothers of their own. 

Some thoughts I recall from the notes of this poem: The word "dappled" is usually used to describe something showing both light and darkness like the way sun shines on a picnic blanket under a shade tree. I also used it because of its subliminal association (at least in my mind) with "The 59th Street Bridge Song," [“I’ve got no place to go; no promises to keep; I’m dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep.”] The line "black-brick back alley short cuts" was an image from my memories of when my father took us at night to the YMCA in old downtown Detroit. (It was torn down to build Ford Field.) The dark alley between the parking lot and the "Y" was very scary to me. And lastly, the tone of this piece was influenced by some work by Lew Sarett, a seldom-cited poet I studied in college. The final line, "The world has a way with time" was inspired by a line in a Sarett poem about the loss of innocence that can be seen in the eyes of wayward girls.