Little One Poem by Diana van den Berg

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.