To A Sleeping Beauty

Dear daughter, I tiptoed in your room tonight
An' I looked down at you smilin' in your sleep
You were so lovely, my heart nearly broke
An' I thought how very much like Sleeping Beauty a little girl is

When I tuck you in at night
I never know how old you'll be when you wake
One evenin' you crawl on your dad's lap
An' throw your arms around his neck

The next mornin' you might be much too grown up
For that sort of thing
You're so quickly approachin' the awkward age
Too young to drive the car an' yet too old to be carried
Into the house, half asleep on daddy's shoulder

I have a secret that I've never told you, sleeping beauty
You're goin' on a very excitin' trip
You'll travel from yesterday all the way to tomorrow
It's a rapid journey an' you'll travel light
Leavin' behind your measles, mumps
Freckles, bumps, bubblegum an' me

I promise not to feel too hurt when you discover
That the world is more important than your daddy's lap
Yesterday, you were blue-jeaned an' pig-tailed
The neighborhood's best tree-climber

Tomorrow, you'll be blue organdie an' pony-tailed
An' you'll view the world from a loftier perch
A pair of high-heel shoes
Yesterday, you could mend a doll's broken leg with a hug
Tomorrow, you'll be able to break a young man's heart with a kiss

Yesterday, you could get lost one aisle
Away from me in a supermarket
Now, I have to worry about losin' you
Down another aisle to some strange young man

You see just at the point where your growin' pains stop
Mine begin
Yesterday, you were kind of a pain in the neck
When you were around
Tomorrow, you'll be an ache in my heart when you're not

Tomorrow, you'll lay aside your jump rope
An' tie up the telephone lines
An' that little boy that used to push you in the mud
Well, he'll fight to set out a dance with you

The clock upstairs is countin' the minutes for you
An' the sky upstairs is savin' its brightest stars
An' the sun is waitin' with its shiniest day
Oh, I, I can't expect you to live in a doll house forever
Sooner or later, the butterfly sheds its cocoon
An' the smallest bird must try its wings

But when you grow up an' out of my arms
When you finally get too big for my shirts
I'll still recall how you used to scatter dust an' dolls
An' partially through every room in the house

But you spread sunshine too
The dust is settled, your mom picked up the dolls
But the sunshine will always fill the corners of our hearts

So, here I am talkin' in your sleep
Because well, if you saw this look on my face, you'd laugh
An' if I spoke with this lump in my throat, I'd cry

Yeah, honey, when I looked at you tonight
You were a sleeping beauty
So I tiptoed over an' I kissed you
You didn't wake up I knew you wouldn't

According to the legend
Only the handsome young prince can open your eyes
An' I'm just the father of the future bride
So you sleep on pretty thing

Tomorrow, you'll wake an' you'll be a young lady
An' you won't even realize
That you've changed courses in the middle of a dream

But you might notice this little change in me
I look a little different somehow, a little sadder
A little wiser but a whole lot richer
Tonight, I kissed a princess an' I feel like a king