Original title: “Daddy, Daddy; I don’t want to go” – Background: Asia Cottom, 11, was on American Airlines Flight 77 from Washington to Los Angeles when the plane crashed into the Pentagon with 64 people aboard.  Asia was a student at Backus Middle School in Washington where her father coached basketball, patrol the halls and serve as a book clerk.  Asia was selected to take a trip to California with a teacher to participate in a National Geographic Society ecology conference. This song is for Asia and her Daddy. 

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I was up in her room; watching her dolls who were
helping her get ready to go
I combed her hair in a pony tail
and tied it in a bright red bow
As she looked in the mirror she smiled in my heart
She said “Daddy, Daddy, I don’t want to go”

We walked to the plane, she held my hand,
knowing I would never let go
I gave her a hug and said “goodbye”
to the purest kind of love
Blowing kisses from her window
She smiled in my heart
“Daddy, Daddy…I don’t want to go.”
Now I’m thinking back to what she said
as I tied the bright red bow
She said, “Daddy, Daddy…I don’t want to go.”
“Daddy, Daddy…I don’t want to go.”

I look up past the sky, where God used to be,
protecting my little girl
But all I see floating up in the clouds
is the trace of a bright red bow
And the memory of her smile;
The smile of my heart
And the wind cried
“Daddy, Daddy…I don’t want to go.”