Saturday, April 13, 2013

A Moment Here

The days go by so quickly, full of small, precious moments - hugs from little arms, pats from little hands, toothless smiles, big-girl words, first haircuts, first roll-overs and attempts at crawling. There are runny noses to wipe, worms to discover, bugs to inspect, shoes to tie, sand buckets to fill, clouds to watch, songs to sing. Daily household chores get fit in where they can. As for writing a poem a day, well! I thought about it but words and paper haven't met in a long time.

Here's one that managed to write itself in my head. I've taken a moment just now to jot it down here.

The prompt: Write about an intangible gift.

Unwrapping the Obvious

There might not be a deity,
long hair flowing,
robes folded neatly about his feet,
book of deeds open
on a gracious, forgiving lap,
who gives a fig leaf if I'm happy,

but there is a small child
whose arms circle my neck,
whose wild imagination
includes me in all her games,
who points out worms as small miracles,
who holds my hand when we cross the street,
who cries when I leave
and grins with shy delight when I return.

There may be no point in praying,
but there is a point to living,
to providing a teething baby
a friendly finger to chew on,
and two arms to rock her safely to sleep.

There may not be a deity
somewhere in the far reaches
who listens, who speaks,
but there is infinity
in the eyes of a child.


 Thanks for this, Hilary


10 comments:

Hilary said...

I love this, Pauline. A child's love is like heaven on earth. You've depicted this so beautifully.

Brian Miller said...

smiles...the love of a child is a beautiful thing...this made me smile real big...and if there is a deity, i think they would love very similar...smiles.

Out on the prairie said...

How sweet life can be.

I write on whatever is near and use little.I have paper and envelopes carefully stacked.After a while I throw them away and try again.LOL

Brian Hayes said...

Not writing these days huh? Well. Keep on not writing.

Tabor said...

A precious and perfect poem...straight from the heart.

Judith said...

And if this isn't a prayer, and a manifestation of deity, then I don't know what is!
Beautiful, Pauline.

Pauline said...

Hilary - I may not have the typical faith in a deity but I sure believe in the love I see in the eyes of those that love me.

Brian M - I might believe if I believed that ;)

OOTP - I just don't have time lately to even scribble things down. Two babies take up every moment of my time!

Brian H - will do so, but only on weekend for a while yet. With this one, the words seemed already formed. I just copied them from my head!

Tabor, and yes, from my heart as well :)

J -You're right - there are more kinds of prayer than just the beseeching sort. My days with the grands are eye and heart-openers.

Grayquill said...

To write poetry is a gift. My kids are now grown and gone but I remember. It was all good. Your words brought back some great and wonderful memories - thanks!

Pauline said...

Grayquill - yes, it was all good. Grandparenthood is equally good now :)

Anonymous said...

So beautiful, Pauline. You take me back to the magical days when my kids were young, and make me long for grandchildren so I can relive that magic. Thank you! And congrats on a well-deserved POTW!