A dedication to the 20+ children and victims that died in Newtown, Connecticut School Massacre today...
"God sent children for another purpose
than merely to keep up the race--to enlarge our hears; and to make us
unselfish and full of
kindly
sympathies and affections; to give our souls higher aims; to call out
all our faculties to extended enterprise and exertion; and to bring
round our firesides bright faces, happy smiles, and loving, tender
hearts."
-Mary Botham Howitt
BE LIKE THE WHITE CEDAR SON: Death of a Child
Little one,
Somewhere by the
Great Lakes of Canada,
I heard of a couple
whose White Cedar* son
Stayed forever young;
Innocent and childish
was he
That brought his
parents all their joy–
His angelic laughter
filled them till old age,
Into their happy
graves.
So please,
Be like the White
Cedar;
Do not grow too
quickly.
Sing to me your
playful cheers,
Crawl through the
years with that adorable skip
Without following the world's
Grownup pace,
On the slippery road
to a cruel maturity.
It is now –
I love you the most,
Young like the tender
green sprout
From out of the moist
ground with no blemish
Of the vicious
world’s beetles.
They lay their
suffering eggs
Where loads of burden
hatch,
Weakening the
blooming shooters.
Understand,
I have attempted to
hide you
From a world in
ruins,
But you wish to run
with the others.
Child,
In the dusk of life,
the road is hard to see,
Wait till I am gone
before you leave me–
So I can be sure to
watch over you.
*White Cedar
The slowest growing
tree located in Canada; it grows less than four inches during its lifespan of
155 years.
