During April, National Poetry Month, we are posting a poem a day. If you would like to suggest one, please email it in. The following poem was written several years ago by Michael Higgins, now the President of Ireland. It was submitted by Catherine King who notes, “It is a coming of age poem he wrote for his daughter Mary Alice.”

The Age of Flowers, by His Excellency Michael D. Higgins

My child woman daughter
Has been given a gift of flowers
But she wants to go gather balloons

White and red, gold and blue
They float above her bent head
Her thin fingers
As she disentangles their gaiety
From the anchor of a chair
Move with frenzy

When my irritation shows
She anticipates the suggestion
That it is past the age of balloons
That the age of flowers is a new season

They are for the boys she says
Seeking refuge in the collective
That is the child’s brief allowance
From the tyranny of a life
Where balloons must not be mixed with flowers

Oh my daughter, if only you knew
What pain I give myself
To reflect and think
That I have been part
Of the destruction of a child’s wonder

Carry flowers, balloons, blow whistles
Laugh and jump
My woman child daughter
Break every binding string
Stretch every sense
Break every restriction
Of those impulses without reflection
That make the random utterances
Of the day-release prisoner
Of repression
That is your father