Release Notes for Letting Go
The lesson after lessons end. A poem.
My son and I both had a hard time when he hit middle school. This poem was the result.
There’s nothing I can tell you
That you won’t learn in time
Alone, without my help.
But I’m used to saying
“Here, let me show you...”
How to walk, hold a spoon,
tie a shoe.
Now I’m the one
that has to learn
how to walk away,
hold my tongue,
tie a knot in my heart,
And let you fail
or fly without me.
A dozen years my job
was to keep you from hurt.
No one ever told me
this would be so hard,
to stand silent, to let go.
No one ever told me
these wobbling steps
toward adulthood
Would have me once again
aching to reach out,
snatch you back,
Save you from knowing
all the other ways
the world can be hard,
At least for a few years more.
—M D Kenney
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