May 31, 2008

The Word of God

Last night I was ready for Most Precious Two Year-Old to go to bed before she was. With my strong recommendation she reluctantly pulled her pajamas on and dragged her toes all the way to the bathroom sink to wash her hands and brush her teeth. Sensing that her day was, in fact, ending despite her best efforts to the contrary, she repeatedly flicked the light on and off, on and off, on and off in an obvious attempt to gnaw through my one remaining nerve and claim "the win."

I finally put my hand over the light switch and declared, "The light stays off. No light." She immediately roared, "Yes, light! God said let there be light!"

Laugh? Cry? I did both and said (with misty eyes), "If God says it, we better do it. Let's have light."

"Mama, God said 'DON'T GO TO BED!'"




May 05, 2008

How Long Can You Stay?

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
--- Robert Frost


My Little One, my golden one, how long can you stay?

You’ve never been denied, betrayed or left unchosen.
You’ve never watched a face collapse under the weight of something you said.
Your whole being vibrates with the sheer delight of being delighted.
How long can you stay?

A moment lurks - I feel it closer - when you will feel the first frost of regret in your throat, when your cheeks will redden from the sting of rejection and your tears that now mist pure and clear will slope and stagger with real pain.

How long can you stay? Twirling breathless in the rain. Sturdy-legged, nose to ant. Half-on, half-off, half-in, half-out, no doubt, all mine, green and free and light.

I know not how long you can stay. I only know it's not long enough.