I went to the ball park today, to see my daughter's team play,
I couldn't seem to keep my attention
on the game of the day...

There was so much more going on.

Such simple things like sunflower husks, littered on the ground.
And holes in the dust, from cleated feet, everywhere abound.

The tiny kids, with outsized mitts, trying to catch tossed balls.
My younger daughter, chasing boys,
I cringe when I see her fall.

There was blue and red, purple and green, the rainbow down on earth.
The dusty brows, and shining eyes, that are starting to feel their worth...

I somehow feel that I have won.

I heard a crack, my head did spin, to see what I was missing.
And there she went, my galloping child,
I heard the other team hissing!

An overthrow! I held my breath, and watched with anxious eyes.
But such is fate, my child tagged out, so much for that parental high.

So ends the game, with a loss tallied up, against our team of girls.
But that's alright, to most of us here,
they are our rough little pearls!

Erin Moen
5/29/02