January 10: A Winter's Night Poem, David Ignatow, "For My Daughter in Reply to a Question"

I have a poem for you guys on this winter night.  It's a poem that contains longing and love and tenderness.

It was written by David Ignatow and appeared in the anthology Good Poems for Hard Times, edited by Garrison Keillor.

Saint Marty wishes he had written this poem.

For My Daughter in Reply to a Question

We're not going to die,
we'll find a way.
We'll breathe deeply
and eat carefully.
We'll think always on life.
There'll be no fading for you or for me.
We'll be the first
and we'll not laugh at ourselves ever
and your children will be my grandchildren.
Nothing will have changed
except by addition.
There'll never be another as you
and never another as I.
No one ever will confuse you
nor confuse me with another.
We will not be forgotten and passed over
and buried under the births and deaths to come.

Sweet dreams this January night