Love, Children--

Love is curious.
Some say it is a many-splendered thing,
like oxygen,
or strawberry shortcake on a warm summer day.
But it has little to say on a cost-benefit scale,
nor does it move the economy

yet it moves our hearts
for our heart thirsts for Anyone,
that essential someone who cares to know YOU

Without pretense or shallow expectations

Let me say, therefore,
beauty follows the path of tears—
Wrinkles and sags eventually ordain the shell
Riches are evasive and vanity a lack of pride.

But children, I love you.
Yet I love you beyond the games,
beyond rules, performance, possessions

-- and beyond communication.

I love you for who you are and can be,
in the inner depths of your true self,
where this world cannot reach it or harm it,
and that love will never die.

You once laid beneath my heart as close as breath
but you are not me nor should you be
God knew you as you laid gently in the curve of his hand
And wrote in your book long before you were mine

So dance and sing through your days—

Generosity and pure spirit linger and make true accounting
Don’t play dress up and put on a show
Saying, “Watch me conquer the world and then,
Judges of the world maybe you’ll love me.”

I'd rather you spread your wings to fly, ...and fall,
than clip them to please the vultures of the world.
I'd rather you'd mature
so these words would not stir your passions.
I'd rather that the clamors of the masses would please you less
than the whispers of God

I want for you the essential – look for it

draw back the curtain of the world’s deceit
ride the winds of heaven
and taste romance's heartache – but be true

Love, Children--