NaPoWriMo Day #10

I will admit this right away. I am cheating a little today. I have a conference and a speaking engagement that promises to be a very long one in which I don't believe I am going to sit down, let alone find time to write. So... I have revised a poem that I have been meaning to revise for a while. Our prompt was to write about a celebration. This poem is a celebration of my daughter. It was written when she was just turning one, but I wasn't really happy with it then. I am feeling more comfortable with it now. It is based loosely on the poem "To a Little Invisible Being Who is Expected Soon to Become Visible" by Anna Laetitia Barbauld. I promise to write a "real" response to the prompt today if the time allows.

To the Small Being Who is Expected Soon to Become Grown
(or to my daughter on her first birthday)
(Apologies to Ms. Barbauld)

Germ of new life, you began
And only one short year ago
You bound yourself to these hearts
Now your powers are expanding hastily
And for many a moon your perfections have swelled,--
Hasten not, precious harvest of happy love, to grow
Too quickly, for already you have left us wondering
How the little bud that you were is so soon blooming
What powers lie folded in your curious little person,--
Senses heightening and mind expanding!
Little do you know at this time the horizons and lofty places
You may reach
When I look upon your sweet face,
I see prayers answered and blessings beyond my asking,
And wonder at God’s plans for you.