Sixteen Prayers

God, hear these sixteen prayers

that I am praying for sixteen good reasons.

I’ve loved her sixteen years,

protected and nurtured her each and every day.

Sixteen birthdays she’s made wishes

on cakes baked by my hands.

Sixteen years of trying to give good advice

and about a million “Be carefuls.”

And now, at this age of sixteen

when all the world is coming up roses,

my prayer for her is “Be yourself.”

And if she cannot see the dangers I see

and if all roads seem good,

and if all friends seem trustworthy,

give her a keen sense of the laws of nature;

that gravity applies to her,

and acceleration and velocity;

that all her sixteen years

cannot protect her from the words she speaks

and the fact that what is hastily given

cannot be easily retrieved.

Sixteen spells innocent and

sixteen spells accountable.

God our Mother protect this dear one

as I have longed to protect her

from the day you gave her into my arms

sixteen years ago.