Darling Daughter
Jennifer, my Jennifer
What have you there my dear
Clasped in your hand
The wedding bands
of pairs long gone since years.
The weddings then of mice in cardboard chapels,
Hover round like ghosts
And secret vows twixt beloved apple
and periwinkle, on the coast
The clover dressed as bridesmaids,
Wrapped in a lace of dew
The beetles sang a lovely hymn
from their carved birch bark pew
And now these memories tickle your blood,
on this, another fine occasion
A marriage to another year
The wise owl produces the equation
He hoots, “Dear Jennifer I thee wed
You to your finest hours
A broad and welcoming future
that smells divine of sea and flowers
“The friendships that you’ve courted long
will be ever there to coo to you
The waves you ride carefree, headstrong
Refresh to be ever new to you
“The journey that your life has blazed
follows the sweetest stream
And leads you to a destiny
as enchanting as a dream
“Dreamt by the pups and elves in tap shoes
who dance upon the clouds
Around your four-poster Queendom,
It’s a story that makes us proud.”
Oh Jennifer, my Jennifer
Wherever you go from here
You bring all of us with you
to whistle and to cheer
For never has there ever been
a tale so sweet and fancy
As that of the girl who took on another year,
as her beloved fiancée.
oxo
Dad