When I was very young,
I had monkey bars and trees to climb.

When I was sad I'd climb to a tall place
higher than my tears.

And when I would frolic and dance in the sun
I would feel God's kiss on my nose.

With cartwheels and violets and an angel's flute song
I danced my way into adulthood's terrain.

Reality came coldly. The tune became vague.
My dreams all but vanished as I declared them childish.

So I worked, and I prayed, and I seldom played
and I thought that's how life ought to be.

I gave birth, and I sighed, and the babies cried
and weary I'd fall into another day's bed,
and I'd wonder who lied . . .

life?
or God?
or me?

Where were the violets?
The fresh smell of morning?
I no longer climbed high to escape my tears.

So I worked, and I prayed, and the sorrow stayed.

With innocence lost and a sober resign
the dutiful years passed numbly by.
One desperate day I climbed a tall oak
And thought I felt a kiss on my nose.

And breathing in I heard from the tree
the song of a flute, still calling me.

Contentment comes slowly to dreamers like me
But glimpses of transcendent stillness I see

In the eyes of a grandchild, the coo of a dove,
The simple but evident signs of God's love.

I've danced to the melody and tried to keep time.
Learned the "yets" yet to be will someday be mine.

The dance is not over, but until it is
The greatest enigma in my life is this:

Regardless my restlessness, actions or whim,
I Know that God is my Father and
I delight Him.