I love to bask in my childlike wonder
I love to feel like a child
I love to frolic in a field of flowers
Run through nature, wild
There, the child I find
That child is on my mind
…
Beautiful little creature
How I love to remember
Prancing through the wood
And under stars, I stood
In awe and wonder
A graceful stupor
Patient
Waiting
Always
Listening
My friends, every tree
Every rock, bird, and snake
My family, the bees
Bushes, leaves, and lake
…
Until her home had torn apart
Itself and all the trees
She, suffering a broken heart
Wept amongst their leaves
As the land was cleared, her spirit with it
Or so it may have seemed
She didn’t know it could not be lifted
But, went on and on pretending
“Turn away!” she cried
“Save your heart before it dies!”
Whatever it took, whatever lies
“Save your heart before it dies!”
And so she roamed
To escape her home
At first, hopeless and alone
But, the stars cried out
And a chorus of trees
She had tuned them out
But, they kept calling
Unbeknownst to her
She’d drawn closer
Eyes wider
Heart larger
“My heart can’t die unless I go with it,”
She began to muse
“Sure, it can break into a thousand pieces,”
By now, she surely knew
“But what of the enormous heights?
The bliss of glorious days and nights?
That I could not have possibly known
Without that ever lonely low…”
“I’ll take it, life.
All the love and all the strife
Every drop of experience
Every morsel of existence
Whatever you wish to give me,
I accept and do so fully.
And whatever you wish to take away,
I won’t take for granted until that day.”
Like the leaves of the old Oak tree
Or shed skin of a snake
She let go of everything
She didn’t longer need
…
Good morning, child
Your day of birth
Thirty-Six now
And younger than you were
Three decades spent
Peeling away
Layers of muck
And rust from clay
Having lived one hundred thousand years
And one thousand lives
Through all the triumphs, fails and tears
Worth every penny, every dime
Progressing
Not regressing
Back
To your essence
Gratefully
Not regretfully
Essence
In the presence
That child is on my mind.
