Returning Home Late

There are girl things on the floor:

black hairbrush, ribbons, plastic glitter,

and socks.

Do not touch a thing. 

There is nothing to put away.

There is no such place as “away” to put things.

How perfectly your living daughters

have left evidence of their abundance.

Turn and go to them. 

Do not disturb this scene they have created.

It is the beginning of the painting

in which they will show you who you are. 

(first published in The Pocket Poetry Parenting Guide, Puddinghouse, 2000)