(For Sarah)

How did you learn those things
you’ve always seemed
to know? How did you

know what you wanted
so early, so clearly,
without any

advice from your mystified
mother, who thought
she only wanted

happiness for you?
How did you discover
the hidden agendas,

the secret plans? And where
did you learn to smile
like that

from the inside out
and how to close
a deal

on your own terms,
to tell some guy
to go to hell!

How did you always know
exactly when you’re
needed, to fly

through the night and arrive 
at the place where you
were born so that

you could brush your grandmother’s hair
and say, “It’s alright, Gammer.
You can go now.”