Your First Steps

For today's NaPoWriMo prompt, I included a "remembered, cherished landscape" in my poem. I chose the front yard of the apartment complex where my daughter learned to take her first steps.

Your First Steps
By Candace Shultz 

In the front of our apartment,
I chose a little patch of grass,
Cut short and pristine,
The most beautiful color green.
The sun warmed our faces.
The wind rustled leaves
From a nearby oak tree.
It was the perfect place
To take your first steps.

I placed your feet down
On the lawn, and suddenly
Your smile became a frown.
You clenched your fists
And released an awful sound.
You cried at my betrayal for
Putting you on that wretched grass,
But I praised you as I watched
You walk towards me with sass.

One step, two steps, and then a third.
You toddled towards me undeterred.
Your first steps! Oh, what a sight!
You are my star, my joy, my delight!
You left behind that grassy green.
You reached my arms, and then you leaned
Into my embrace before I lifted you high
Into the bluest sky, showering you with praise
And looking at you with love in my gaze.