An Ode to Me

Don't you wish you had a poetic father? Here is my annual Valentine's Day poem, composed by my dad, a tradition he's kept up now for as long as I can remember.

Alongside the shores of that Great Lake, Michigan
Lives the finest daughter there has ever been --
Studyin’ French writings at old Chicago U.,
And showin’ the Second City all the things she can do.

Marcel Proust, Victor Hugo, or M. Charles Beaudelaire,
She can read ‘em, untranslated, with energy to spare.
Occasionally some professor tries to give her some guff,
But Dana’s got it handled -- she’s more than good enough.

Maybe you saw Dana in the Chicago Marathon;
She hit the finish line looking only slightly wan.
Or maybe you’ve seen her putting fierce cockroaches to flight
When she gets up in her apartment in the middle of the night.

We miss her in her old haunts back here on the East Coast --
She’s the darling of our hearts, the greatest, the most!
But we’re proud to see her tackling a tough grad school
Coping with those pressures, and staying so cool.

In her teaching, reading, writing, or rowing with the crew,
The people who can match her are exceptionally few.
In truth, sweetest Dana, there’s just one thing left to say -
A tardy, but still heartfelt, Happy Valentine’s Day!