Go now, child, and be of good cheer. Find your life elsewhere, if you can’t find it here. Don’t delay, there isn’t time. The days don’t get any longer. The cord is cut, the past is gone. The journey makes you stronger. The road can be a lonely place. Take comfort where you can. Sometimes that’s a woman. and sometimes that’s a man. Sometimes it’s a dog-eared book. Sometimes it’s a dog. And sometimes it’s a cuppa Joe while sitting on a log. I pray you find a place to rest. With luck you’ll find a home. I hope you’ll find a heart to hold and love to call your own.
Needs to be - if there’s any honesty offered at all - spoken in a loud but resounding voice - at every graduation. (The only formal one in thousands of steps forward)
Until one day the lightbulb goes off and the words return, not necessarily in the way they are said in the poem, but in a way their own experience speaks to them
I know that what you just said has happened to me. At a younger age I simply incapable of receiving certain types of good advice. It is strange that I would recall the advice later but it would go unheeded at the time.
Lovely benediction! They do fly off, as they should, but many will migrate back to the nesting grounds. You never know the full effect you’ve had on a child—just know you did your job. And then go write another poem.
Needs to be - if there’s any honesty offered at all - spoken in a loud but resounding voice - at every graduation. (The only formal one in thousands of steps forward)
I never thought of that, Patris, but it could be used for graduation. Thanks for pointing that out.
Graduation a road to stop along the way. A rest-pit stop for a fast moving mind. Read the signs. Struggles ahead.
Thank you for another wonderful comment, Richard. I hope all do as you say: Read the signs!
There is a wonderful roundness to the form and message here. A nice message to see me on my day. Thanks.
Thanks so much, David
Things that make you say, hmmmm.
So many layers. Exquisite, Paul!
Thanks, Hudson, I intentionally wrote it genderless, hoping each reader might find something in it
I contend, you pulled it off. Swimmingly!
Really encapsulates the hope we have for our children ❤️. Beautiful work.
Thank you, Jenn, for reading and commenting
My pleasure!
That is really a perfect prayer Paul, so well done!
Thank you, Wes, I think the piece offers a bit of good advice for those going out to explore life for the first time.
It really does and like all good, sound advice it may go unheeded.
That’s all part of the journey, isn’t it?
It really is.
Until one day the lightbulb goes off and the words return, not necessarily in the way they are said in the poem, but in a way their own experience speaks to them
I know that what you just said has happened to me. At a younger age I simply incapable of receiving certain types of good advice. It is strange that I would recall the advice later but it would go unheeded at the time.
Lovely! Just as we were talking about letting them travel for and on their own calls and ambitions…
Serendipity! Thank you, Reena
Love this Paul!
Thank you, Aaron
So lovely…something almost all of us can relate to. And the last few lines are things that almost all of us long for. Well done, Paul!
I’m glad I found those last lines otherwise I wouldn’t have a poem—Thank you, Angie!
So beautifully phrased, Paul💙
Thanks, Diane—Always happy to see you here!
Beautiful, my friend.
Thank you, Mike
This made me tearful. Thank you for sharing it here.
You’re welcome, Georgia B!
Take off that wet coat and sit here by the fire, warm yourself. Thanks Paul, I’ll throw my coat over there and sit a while.
You’re always welcome, Jonathan!
Home is calling today, Paul.
Beautiful words!
Thank you, Fotini, that means a lot to me!
Love it.
Thank you, Leon
Lovely benediction! They do fly off, as they should, but many will migrate back to the nesting grounds. You never know the full effect you’ve had on a child—just know you did your job. And then go write another poem.
I will write another poem, Carole—Thank you for the encouragement!