Acacia Poem by Alto Lee Thomas, Jr.

The very sweetest child;
Who at her birth was laid upon my chest.
I swear then, as now, her flitting heartbeat
Was ever synchronized to mine...
The purest and the best of loves.

For when I gaze upon her, as is too often,
Only in my mind's eye.
I see only beauty there.
Behind that impish grin;
Those who must err about:
An (imagined) mischievousness;
A (mistaken) bend to naughtiness.

For those should see as I,
That she is a friend to all that lives,
And asks naught but smiles returned;
In guileless exchange for harm dealt by others to this world.
May this, her brightest light, never be shadowed.
And her hugs,
Given freely to those in need,
Provide a seed to heal.

I miss most those quiet times,
When, as a babe, she slept oblivious to all;
In smiles upon my shoulder.
Smiles as yet untainted by the world.