To A Sleeping Beauty

Dear daughter

I tiptoed in your room tonight

An' I looked down at you smilin' in your sleep

You were so lovely

My heart nearly broke

An' I thought how very much like Sleeping Beauty a little girl is

When I tuck you in at night

I never know how old you'll be when you wake

One evenin' you crawl on your dad's lap

An' throw your arms around his neck

The next mornin' you might be much too grown up

For that sort of thing

You're so quickly approachin' the awkward age

Too young to drive the car an' yet too old to be carried

Into the house

Half asleep on daddy's shoulder

I have a secret that I've never told you

Sleeping beauty

You're goin' on a very excitin' trip

You'll travel from yesterday all the way to tomorrow

It's a rapid journey an' you'll travel light

Leavin' behind your measles

Mumps

Freckles

Bumps

Bubblegum an' me

I promise not to feel too hurt when you discover

That the world is more important than your daddy's lap

Yesterday

You were blue jeaned an' pig tailed

The neighborhood's best tree climber

Tomorrow

You'll be blue organdie an' pony tailed

An' you'll view the world from a loftier perch

A pair of high heel shoes

Yesterday

You could mend a doll's broken leg with a hug

Tomorrow

You'll be able to break a young man's heart with a kiss

Yesterday

You could get lost one aisle

Away from me in a supermarket

Now

I have to worry about losin' you

Down another aisle to some strange young man

You see just at the point where your growin' pains stop

Mine begin

Yesterday

You were kind of a pain in the neck

When you were around

Tomorrow

You'll be an ache in my heart when you're not

Tomorrow

You'll lay aside your jump rope

An' tie up the telephone lines

An' that little boy that used to push you in the mud

Well

He'll fight to set out a dance with you

The clock upstairs is countin' the minutes for you

An' the sky upstairs is savin' its brightest stars

An' the sun is waitin' with its shiniest day

Oh

I

I can't expect you to live in a doll house forever

Sooner or later

The butterfly sheds its cocoon

An' the smallest bird must try its wings

But when you grow up an' out of my arms

When you finally get too big for my shirts

I'll still recall how you used to scatter dust an' dolls

An' partially through every room in the house

But you spread sunshine too

The dust is settled

Your mom picked up the dolls

But the sunshine will always fill the corners of our hearts

So

Here I am talkin' in your sleep

Because well

If you saw this look on my face

You'd laugh

An' if I spoke with this lump in my throat

I'd cry

Yeah

Honey

When I looked at you tonight

You were a sleeping beauty

So I tiptoed over an' I kissed you

You didn't wake up I knew you wouldn't

According to the legend

Only the handsome young prince can open your eyes

An' I'm just the father of the future bride

So you sleep on pretty thing

Tomorrow

You'll wake an' you'll be a young lady

An' you won't even realize

That you've changed courses in the middle of a dream

But you might notice this little change in me

I look a little different somehow

A little sadder

A little wiser but a whole lot richer

Tonight

I kissed a princess an' I feel like a king