54 - For My Daughter

My daughter, E.G., and I were talking about psalms the other day. A student at Lake Forest College, she is taking a course in Hebrew Bible with the distinguished Rabbi Herbert Bronstein, Senior Scholar at North Shore Congregation Israel and editor of the beautiful Passover Haggadah published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Her assignment was to select and comment on her personal response to ten psalms. She was surprised at her reaction to many of the psalms. She commented in her paper: “Perhaps this is because of the book of psalms my mother wrote. I have always found great meaning and resonance in her writings.”

E.G. celebrated her 22nd birthday this week. But I got a wonderful gift: her comment about my work in her paper. She also wondered aloud to me why one of my psalms was titled “For My Daughter.” Who was the speaker, her or me?

Fifty Four

For My Daughter

In this central core of me,
You mark my potentials;
You ignite the spark of eternity
You have placed within me.

I sometimes forget, Eternal God,
The me that lies buried beneath
The faces I must wear,
The duties I take for my own.

Uncover the center of me, O God;
Polish it and smooth it
Like old cherished silver
Handed down from mother to daughter.

I sometimes forget, Spark Maker
That I glow with Your light,
That I burn with passions
That sometimes frighten me to reveal.

Send fuel to these sparks,
That I might light a way to righteousness;
Let a steady wind fan these flames
That serve You in faithfulness.

Then will my mouth praise You
From the center of my being;
Then will I strip away artifice
To praise the Living God.