For Celeste & Sydney

O Lowell, do not forget your daughters,
how they ran, how they skipped,
how they danced on hot summer nights
and sang silly songs into winter mornings.

Do not forget how your daughters stood
beside the river as the leaves turned,
how they wriggled their toes on the grass
one Easter morning.

O Lowell, remember your daughters
leaping and swimming and walking
down Merrimack Street – young
hopeful, dreaming dreams of love.

Remember your daughters in black shoes
laughing over wine at the theater,
how they curled their legs up underneath
cuddling with their babies.

O Lowell, do not forget your daughters.