to my children

I cannot show you
your only teacher I am not
the world it is just as it is
and sometimes nearly not

take things as they come to you
accept things for what they are
old cliches yet bold cliche
just simply can't be taught

I want for you the best of you
be open ... be willing ... be kind
learn from the old and merge with the new
sorting, re-shuffling the layers of your mind

I have wished that I could reveal to you
the many places I have grown
but I have come to believe, though hard for me
that you must get there on your own

we all start from different places
in both time and circumstance
all lessons the same but the pages changed
shown to us only when we are ready to dance

so start out today on your very own way
your road can be all you can make it
a soft-shaded dirt path or a lane strewn with glass
just don't hurry ... don't worry ... don't fake it

I want ... I want ... I want ...

I want to walk remote sandy beaches
in billowy contton skirts and shirts
with real stone beads around my neck
bare feet, tan legs and a wanderer's gait
hair flying free to dance with salt breezes

I want to peruse at my leisure
old bookstores in London and Wales
and walk in the mist by old harbors
smoke a corn cob pipe with ambrosia tobacco
and sip chamomile tea with friends

I want to drink wine with cheese and apples
on my fromt porch in my own wooden rocker
and watch god wrestle down the sun for the night
with a fat cat purring and curled in my lap
while frogs and crickets praise the cool dark to come

I want to dance real close in the moonlight
to old, familiar love songs we once believed
barefoot in a meadow or a parking lot would do
when souls dance even closer than the bodies
and the minds of our hearts commune

I want to see great and greater still grandchildren
and teach them what I knew not yet with my own
I want their wonder left intact for forever
have them know their own special uniqueness
and let them know they are loved beyond description

I want to be all that I ever long to be
whole ... serene ... peace-filled ... and free
I want to know me much better than most
and through that become acquainted with you
and know that we all are truly worth knowing well