GROWING SONG
I awoke one morn at the dawning
And gazed at the birds on the wing,
And thanked the Almighty Creator
For the wonderful songs that they sing.
The lovely trill of the robin’s song,
The whip-poor-will’s call as the day grows long,
And teasing them all can often be heard
The melody of notes of notes that pour from the
throat
Of the talented mocking bird.
But lovelier far than this sweet refrain
Of the winged feathery things,
Lovelier far to a mother’s ear
Is the song that her daughter sings.
There is the sharp high note of girlhood glee,
And once in a while there is a note off-key,
But her life is the making of a melody -
This song that your daughter sings.
She will add a verse as she goes along
And you will note how the melody slows
As a sorrow teaches its lesson here
And a wiser girl she grows.
But many there are of the joyful times
When lilting and twirling the score
As happiness takes her skimming along
To a long awaited shore.
So thank you, daughters, for this childhood fair,
No greater joy can a mother share
Than the blissful notes of a life in spring
In the wonderful song that her daughter sings.
___________________________
by Winnie Apple Newton
Written circa 1972
On the occasion of daughter Anita’s coronation
by Girl Ambassadors as "GA Queen with Scepter"