Ariel

You

Are garlanded with gold and silver waves

Delicate blue lines, crisscrossing, intersecting

Beneath daisy-white skin

A map that leads straight to my heart

Ariel

The conundrum of my soul

An enigma made of obsidian, crystalline femininity

A force to be reckoned with

Whose eyes blaze with knowledge and

Poetry

Fierce gray determination, threatening, promising

Like a gathering tempest

Captivating all who get caught up in

Your gale-force wit and

Wild, magnetic spirit

There’s no shelter, no break wall

Or sandy shield

Just swirling winds, a breezy, powder-scented

Hurricane

Made of fire and cool water and soft gossamer

Virtue

Unpredictable, all encompassing, a lamb

A lioness who lies down

When the skies open up

And the merciful rain comes tumbling, tumbling

Down upon my arid desert core

And coaxes the forgotten seedlings

The sleeping flowers, fantasy-bright, the color of dream

To emerge, to blossom, to follow

In the wake of your innocent storm



Happy birthday, baby girl.



I love you.



--Mom