Daughter Poems | Poemist

Popular Daughter Poems

Alive Together

by Lisel Mueller

Speaking of marvels, I am alive
together with you, when I might have been
alive with anyone under the sun,
when I might have been Abelard's woman
or the whore of a Renaissance pope
or a peasant wife with not enough food
and not enough love, with my children
dead of the plague. I might have slept
in an alcove next to the man
with the golden nose, who poked it

......

Boadicea

by Alfred Lord Tennyson

While about the shore of Mona those Neronian legionaries
Burnt and broke the grove and altar of the Druid and Druidess,
Far in the East Boadicea, standing loftily charioted,
Mad and maddening all that heard her in her fierce volubility,
Girt by half the tribes of Britain, near the colony Camulodune,
Yell'd and shriek'd between her daughters o'er a wild confederacy.

'They that scorn the tribes and call us Britain's barbarous populaces,
Did they hear me, would they listen, did they pity me supplicating?
Shall I heed them in their anguish? shall I brook to be supplicated?

......

Parent's Pantoum

by Carolyn Kizer

for Maxine Kumin

Where did these enormous children come from,
More ladylike than we have ever been?
Some of ours look older than we feel.
How did they appear in their long dresses

More ladylike than we have ever been?
But they moan about their aging more than we do,
In their fragile heels and long black dresses.

......

Spelling

by Margaret Atwood

My daughter plays on the floor
with plastic letters,
red, blue & hard yellow,
learning how to spell,
spelling,
how to make spells.

I wonder how many women
denied themselves daughters,
closed themselves in rooms,

......

The Undertaker's Horse..

by Rudyard Kipling

The eldest son bestrides him,
And the pretty daughter rides him,
And I meet him oft o' mornings on the Course;
And there kindles in my bosom
An emotion chill and gruesome
As I canter past the Undertaker's Horse.

Neither shies he nor is restive,
But a hideously suggestive
Trot, professional and placid, he affects;

......

Recent Daughter Poems

Dear father

by Julie Staugaard

Once upon a time
You were my favourite guy
But now, you only make me cry
Make me feel, like I’m not worth a dime

You were supposed to be my father
Where were you when I called?
I had to try harder
But you only ever stalled

......

Baba

by Fathima Shihabudeen

Navy blue shirt with khaki pants
The air around you is like deep water
Rectangular glasses on the ridge of your nose
Sleeves rolled up and your watch ticking loudly

I’m the mirror you look into
You talk on and on and stir my brain
All while sipping on strongly brewed tea
Your faded eyes brim with insight

......

We’re Never Ever Apart

by Jeffrey Pipes Guice

I’m never alone
when you’re in my thoughts...
You help me decide
between my shoulds and my oughts...

I’m never scared
when you hold my hand...
You’re always with me
when we walk the land...

......

Her TONGUELESS Emotions

by Soumalya Chatterjee

I have understood my mother in the present weather.
Her colourless, toothless, though contended a smile
Naif, fair, with dappled on face,
Age and height middled
Beautiful, my ‘maa’ she was.

In winter, she caught the ability to forget,
Forget her past, her present.... future-
Everything, but not everything, not me.
I was the nectar if bee she was,

......

Sorry Dad

by Nupur Gautam

Sometimes I wish I could relate to all those poems and quotes,
I wish our conversations and hugs were more frequent,
I wish we could be more comfortable in each other's company,
And ask how our days went.

I know you said it all out of anger,
But I can't get myself to forget.
Those words of yours pierced through my heart,
They weren't meant to, I bet.

......