An Open Book

My daughter couldn’t get to sleep last night
She was worried about death
She’s five
She’s been reading since she was four
No one discovered I could read
Until midway through kindergarten
When I learned that reading
Might get you attention and rewards
I don’t remember lying awake at night
Picturing a never ending blackness and
What it might feel like to disappear into it
Until I was in at least third grade
But I never got candy or
A Tonka Truck for doing it or
Talking about it and
I’m not half her mother
The woman who insists on asking for help in any store
If you can’t find what you’re looking for within the first ten seconds you’re there
And who actually talks to people
When she doesn’t have to
And tells them things about herself
I just hope
For my daughter’s sake
That she finds a few people
Willing to read that kind of open book