A Rosebud Opens

This five-minute adaptation is to all the rosebuds in my life, most devotedly my daughter.
"Rejoice... in your youth; and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth."

The bud and foliage hold little promise but daily the rose grows.
Threads of color, offer promise, peeping through the green.
The bloom widens, then bursts, and there the flower is revealed.
Watching in admiration and delight, it matures to full size and beauty.
Waiting, until it is reached and then gradually the flower is complete.
At that moment, the opening blossom is blended with the grace & charm of the bud.
Girlhood is an opening flower emerging into womanhood.

Womanhood has charms of its own.
This wonderful experience, this transformation, this blossoming is a miracle to behold in life's garden.
Girlhood is the rose half-open.
It is charming with a beauty and coloring of youth.
Behold the affections held especially for childhood, blending with the graces and powers of womanhood.
Appreciate these golden days my dear.
While you have your own irritations, these carefree days are in many ways the happiest in life.

You stand where the brook and the river meet.
A time will come when these days and toys will be tucked away,
and the wonderful joys of womanhood will arrive.
Girlhood days are happy days.
This is revealed in the blush of your cheeks, the youth in your veins,
for the cares of life have not settled upon your heart.
You continue to catch the notes of music, and respond so pleasurably to fancy.

Full of song and laughter.
Your magic-view hides the pains of life and reveals the joys that are so often overlooked.
Your heart, beats with eagerness, with no doubt that conquest is possible.
No defeats, failures, disappointments!
Every thorn is hidden, every rose is revealed.
Contagious are your joy and optimism.
Your presence cheers the soul. Your hope and laughter quickens the pulse.

Older ones know what life holds, yet your ways woo and influence them.
Garlands upon your lips meet the depths of each heart joyously and unafraid.
I shan't chill the warmth and animation of happy girlhood.
If just ahead you knew that your back would bend and your heart would break,
"would the knowing" actually make it less painful?
No! So, for now, laugh and play for this is your day.
Dream, aspire, climb new heights.

What a pessimist I would be if I were to discourage your dreams, your hopes.
Enjoy your blue skies, and light paths.
But, beware, Girlhood is not without danger.
The most beautiful rose would be blighted; even the brightest would fail, if the blight of sin is ignored.
Your inheritance will only prove pure, beautiful, and useful; if it is not robbed in childhood.
Guard your bud-laden rose vine, my dear.... so that it won't be trampled upon and robbed of it's unsullied purity.
Girlhood is a time of making ready.

Maturity, independence will come.
For a while, let those who lead you- carry the burdens, burdens that would be ill-fit for young shoulders.
In so short a time, these who lead- will let go, and then you, too, will step into the world of womanhood.
For now- rejoice, dream, sip the honey of these sweet girlhood days;
but beware to guard the slip of your feet.
Be pure, be true, be sincere, be earnest in these girlhood days so sweet;
and life can bring a peace and joy that none can fathom.

adapted from - Beautiful Girlhood.