Poem To Heidi Poem by John Mackinnon

Birthday Card to Heidi 17/8/01

Half darkness led them,
The young girl and her father
Until she pointed, star in her eye
'I have brought him to you,
Teach him what we have come to know together'.
The oak tree bent towards the girl.
'This is no time for words.
His lines are tangled and his mind
Preoccupied with trifles.
See even now he plays
And will not hear us'.
'He will, I know he will.
He is distracted now
But everyday more clearly sees
What you and I can see.
So also, let us speak
That he may hear and understand'
'Child take my hand.
Know, most of all
The words between us, you and I,
The earth can hear,
But will reach HIS ear
Only as wind in tangled lines.
Ours is a box of secrets standing by
For fathers who would turn an eye to hear'
So spoke the oak tree and the child
As night turned into day.