Hive account@elpadjo, thanks mate.

I've written a lot of poems, but, as you can imagine, this one is special. My daughter and I are very close ... and a daughter's 16th birthday, well, you'd like that one to stand out in her memory as she grows older. (If there are any dolphins or whales out there ... you would earn One Hell of Friendship for making this one pop. I may be a minnow now ... but I have words. This will not always be the case.)

There's something going on here on Steemit that I don't think a lot of people fully appreciate ... our words, that is: our ideas, ideals and insights, are becoming immortal. The blockchain will preserve them for eternity. Now, in all likeliness, they will get buried in obscurity. But maybe not. That realization is in the back of my mind with every post and comment I make. Will, someday, my daughter or granddaughter find my words and hold their head high thinking, "That's my Dad" ... or will they hang their head in shame thinking, "That's my dad." Words preserve our essence. Shakespeare's bones have long turned to dust, yet his words will echo in our ears forever.