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Open Poetry #48
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OwlSA
Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa

0 posted 2012-04-05 09:25 AM



LITTLE ONE
To Jacob
5 April (but written 31 March 2012)

Little one,
I do not speak your language
though I did once . . . aeons ago,
but through the many decades I lost
the ability to speak as you do,
with the perfect and complete and innocent soul
of a newborn;

but I speak to you in broken tones of communication
as well as I can
and, though I know that I won’t understand your reply,
I know also that you do understand me,
through God our interpreter,
and I know my words
in their shadow-shape translation
into swirling love images
and emotions
and colours
and warmth
will seep
deep
into your heart
and that you will keep them safe and warm
folded neatly in drawer categories
each of which
you will open at the appropriate times
and read
and contemplate
and consider
and evaluate
and modify
and use them
and smile
with the wisdom,
faith
and purity
of a child
hungry
for the excitement
and power
and freedom
of knowledge.

You are on tippy-toes
on the brink
of the greatest gift
in all the world . . .
Life.
Perhaps you understand that better
than all of us,
as yet unsullied as you are
by the mistakes that we all make.
You will make them too,
but oh, Little One,
open your heart
and your mind
and most of all, your soul
to learning
about the wonder,
the bounty
of our world
(for you are a part of that now)
and most of all
the love
that holds its crazy parts
all together
(especially when all seems lost -
those moments are there to help us
find our way again
through the love that is opened up to us
through a flower, a purr, a bark, a smile, a hug)
and learn from your mistakes;
take each one and contemplate it
in the dark
feeling its sharp angles
and rough texture,
but also take each mistake into the sunlight
so that you can see all its facets sparkling
and imparting you with a wisdom beyond your years and tears and laughter.
Know also -
for happiness is a balance of everything -
the good that you do, because
for every mistake you make
there are a thousand, thousand things
you do that are right and good and beautiful.
Cherish those things
and develop a wisdom
like Kalil Gibran’s.
Read his works and others
and most of all,
the Good Book,
and take from them all
what is good and true and pure
to you
and celebrate those things.
Gird yourself with Life’s passion
its beauty, its soul.
Every moment of Life is a gift.
Love and adore them,
sing their happinesses
cry their sorrows
and use each one wisely
and flourish
for that is what you were born for.

Owl

© Copyright 2012 Diana van den Berg - All Rights Reserved
secondhanddreampoet
Member Ascendant
since 2006-11-07
Posts 6394
a 'Universalist' !
1 posted 2012-04-05 10:46 AM


supremely excellent writing !

"Gird yourself with Life’s passion
   its beauty, its soul..."

The Ancient Greeks, of course, really asked only one thing
about a person when they died ... Did he/she have 'passion' ?!


OwlSA
Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa
2 posted 2012-04-05 11:37 AM


Thank you for your kind words, Bruce.  Well the Ancient Greeks would have got a "yes" answer about me - especially when they heard that one of my greatest passions was Ancient Greece!

Owl

latearrival
Member Ascendant
since 2003-03-21
Posts 5499
Florida
3 posted 2012-04-05 12:19 PM


love this ,so tender and loving.jo
OwlSA
Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa
4 posted 2012-04-05 12:44 PM


Thank you, Jo.  Rhiannon is the daughter of a friend of mine from another poetry forum.  They live in Wales.  Rhiannon has just had her first baby.  

Owl

Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354
Listening to every heart
5 posted 2012-04-05 09:03 PM


What a beautiful gift to bestow upon a babe.
You've done the child well in this gift...
may it ever resound in that child's mind.


Marchmadness
Member Rara Avis
since 2007-09-16
Posts 9271
So. El Monte, California
6 posted 2012-04-05 11:13 PM


Wonderful Baby gift, Diana. Better than all the blankets and booties etc. you could give.
                          Ida

OwlSA
Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa
7 posted 2012-04-06 03:19 AM


Thank you, Karilea and Ida, for the gift of such lovely replies.  You have brought me heart-warmed smiles.

Owl

suthern
Deputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Seraphic
since 1999-07-29
Posts 20723
Louisiana
8 posted 2012-04-09 04:08 PM


You are on tippy-toes
on the brink
of the greatest gift
in all the world . . .
Life.

One of the wonderful things about babies is that they remind all of us that wonder exists. *S* This is beautiful!!

OwlSA
Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa
9 posted 2012-04-09 09:02 PM


Thank you, Ruth.  I am not really a "baby" person, but this one had me thinking.  Smiles.

Owl

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