I Don't Actually Have a Daughter

on the occasion of my daughter’s graduation

I also only wanted
a home, like you
seem perpetually to be seeking,
running in circles, always
& never finding yourself
where you started or thought
you would ever end up. This disguises
some other desire. Your need to be right
about something. To locate a certainty,
attach yourself to it & pray, each day
for the rest of your life, to never be left
alone in the woods again. No matter
how many times I tell you bears don’t live
around here, you refuse to close your eyes
in the daytime. This is a matter of trust.
Not in me, or yourself, but in the upcoming
seconds of time, the possibility the world
might cease to exist if we stop willing it
to behave in exactly the fashion we need.
Does this sound ridiculous? I admit
nothing. There’s no telling how
long this search will continue. How you
may someday find yourself exhausted
in the face of the impossible. What then?
Then you will read this
again.