children – small circle big circle

by Small Circle Big Circle

Should I be gone forever,

yes, do weep for me.

But also,

look in the mud

your little feet

will want to step in.

Look in the grass,

in the trunks of the trees;

look in the raindrops,

in the drops of dew on the leaves.

Look in the snowflakes

that caress gently your face;

look in the sand at the beach,

in the stars up in space.

I know I’ll be there,

Please come and look for me.

Hear me in the song of the crows,

in the call of the owl;

Hear me in the sound of the waves,

in the wind, in the brook,

in the rain, in the fire.

I know I’ll be there;

Please come and look for me.

Feel me in your heart

laughing hard, singing loud;

holding your hand,

brushing your hair,

hugging you tight;

can you see

I am really there?

I’ll tuck you in at night.

I’ll whisper a prayer;

I’ll bake you a cake in the morning,

I will be there.

I will always be there.

My heart in your heart

Will forever be.

For ever and ever

You three and me.

How surely gravity’s law

strong as an ocean current,

takes hold of even the strongest thing

and pulls it toward the heart of the world.

Each thing

– each stone, blossom, child –

is held in place.

Only we, in our arrogance,

push out beyond what we belong to

for some empty freedom.

If we surrendered

to Earth’s intelligence

we could rise up, rooted, like trees.

Instead we entangle ourselves

in knots of our own making

and struggle, lonely and confused.

So, like children, we begin again

to learn from the things,

because they are in God’s heart;

they have never left him.

This is what the things can teach us:

to fall,

patiently to trust our heaviness.

even a bird has to do that

before he can fly.

Rainer Maria Rilke Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God New York: Riverhead, 1996 (Translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy)

small circle big circle

Tag: children

Should I be gone forever

Gravity’s Law by Rainer Maria Rilke