This is a sonnet I wrote for my daughter’s 18th birthday. For those unaware of a sonnet’s structure, they are written in iambic pentameter, with three quatrains and one couplet. Shakespeare was famous for writing them. They’re one of my favorite forms of poetry.

A birth, and then a raucous round of cries,

I felt the tears of wonder grace my cheek;

As finally you opened infant eyes,

This world, for whom your spirit now must seek.

As years passed by like gently falling leaves,

I stood and watched from fathers’ watchful stance;

Should wonder never cease, my soul believes,

A growing child caught by a fleeting glance.

As trials go, you spared me much defeat,

While sleepless nights abounded just the same;

Such is the life of parents slow and fleet,

A sentence handed down from God’s own name.

From child to girl, to woman now untied,

Always know I’ll never leave your side.