Michigan Daughters
by Kathleen Ripley Leo
(Sarah Ann Cochrane, NSDAR, member and past chapter regent 2010-2015)

We keep close to our hearts
the grateful looks we receive from descendants
whose ancestor’s grave we found and marked;
the satisfied looks from the historical society whose preserved building now has a new roof;
the sweet look from a dear lady DAR
who is now a shut in,
and is hosting a visit from her Regent;
and the smile from the blind man
as he accepts a braille flag.

We keep close to our hearts
the expressions from high school and elementary
children, the most precious resource of our country,
and their parents, at State Awards day;
from the man who saw us in a Fourth of July parade
and tells us how his DAR Good Citizenship
medal and card formed into a curve, keeping it
as he did in his wallet these last thirty years;
the proud gaze from a VFW gentleman
with a limb missing as we shake his other hand;
the stare from a parent, who received a
cell phone call from their Marine son,
whose smartphone Skyped shrapnel burns on his hand.
We keep close to our hearts
the looks from every father and Bluestar mother
on their own worried journey— they are grateful for the
American Flag flying in front of our homes.

We Michigan Daughters look into each others’ eyes
and know the love of DAR that wraps us
in treasured silk, the silk of 50 hard won stars,
on a field of midnight blue.