Blessing

Blessing

- for my daughter, Eva

Baruch ha shame, yame, yame

(``Blessed be the Lord from day to day'')

Halfway between child and girl,

you stretch your now-long legs

the length of the sofa,

raise one hand over your head

and announce, again, ``I'm bored.''

But books are becoming your friends,

and summer mornings, when time permits,

we read on the sofa, side by side.

I relish the back and forth of your eyes

on the page, your ponytail spread

like gossamer in sunlight.

Soon you will ask for breakfast,

but now, two thumbs holding

your page in place, you read.

Sun cascades through the window.

Your brown hair sparkles with flashes

of red, as mine did when I was a kid.

I think of the generations of our lives -

wish you increased joy,

more grace,

more ease.

As we read, I catch your eyes

looking up at mine. They glimmer

in a way that makes me remember

the ``Baruch ha shame, yame, yame''

my grandfather used to say

reminding me, once again

of the blessings of this,

of every day.