Why did I write it down?
In order to remember. Of course,
but exactly what was it
I wanted to remember?
How much of it actually
happened?
Did any of it?
Why do I keep a notebook at all?
Although I have felt compelled
to write these things down
since I was five years old,
I doubt
that my daughter
ever will,
for she is a singularly blessed
and accepting child
delighted with life
exactly as life presents itself to her
unafraid to sleep
and unafraid to wake up.
Keepers of private notebooks
are a different breed altogether
lonely and hesitant
rearrangers of things
anxious malcontents
children afflicted
apparently at birth
with some presentiment of loss.