Scott Simpson · Poetry

Through You, Not From You

Use For Kindling · source pages 13, 14

The original line breaks, stanza spacing, and placement are preserved. Long lines scroll horizontally.

Source page 13

My daughter slept on my chest for hours—

warm and tiny,

a breath-shaped bundle of future.

Source page 14

I thought she was mine.

But Khalil Gibran whispers otherwise.

Through you, not from you.

So I stop thinking of myself

as the sculptor,

and more like the studio—

light-filled,

dusty,

full of tools and the sound

of something being shaped

on its own terms.

I can steady the table.

I can listen.

I can say,

I see you.

And I won’t take credit

for your angles.

But I will cheer

when you launch.