To A Sleeping Beauty

Dear daughter
I tiptoed in your room tonight
And I looked down at you smilin' in your sleep
You were so lovely my heart nearly broke
And 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 evening you crawl on your dad's lap and throw your arms around his neck
The next morning you might be much too grown up for that sort of thing

You're so quickly approaching the awkward age
Too young to drive the car and 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 going on a very exciting trip
You'll travel from yesterday all the way to tomorrow
It's a rapid journey and you'll travel light
Leaving behind you measles, mumps, freckles, bumps, bubble gum and 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 jean and pig tail, the neighborhood's best tree climber
Tomorrow you'll be blue organdy and ponytailed and 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
Huh, yesterday you could get lost one aisle away from me in a supermarket
Now I have to worry about losing you down another aisle to some strange young man
You see, just at the point where your growing 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 and tie up the telephone lines, and that little boy that used to push you in the mud
Well, he'll fight to sit out a dance with you
The clock upstairs is countin' the minutes for you
And the sky upstairs is savin' its' brighest stars
And the sun is waitin' with its' shiniest day

Oh I, I can't expect you to live in a dollhouse forever
Sooner or later, the butterfly sheds its cocoon and the smallest bird must try its wings
But when you grow up and out of my arms, when you finally get too big for my shirts
I'll still recall how you used to scatter dust and dolls and 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 talking in your sleep
Because, well, if you saw this look on my face, you'd laugh
And 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 and 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
And I'm just the father of the future bride

So you sleep on, pretty thing, tomorrow you'll wake and you'll be a young lady
And you won't even realize that you've changed courses in the middle of a dream
But you might notice a little change in me
I'll look a little different somehow
A little sadder, a little wiser, but a whole lot richer
Tonight, I kissed a princess and I feel like a king