Each passing year brings something new,
Yet takes away a layer too;
And wisdom, earned through joy and pain,
Is teaching me to play again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How much I wore to fit the crowd!
The measured word, the forehead proud,
The proper wish, the practiced face\u2014
The weight of holding on to place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The years had settled, dust on dust,
On things I loved before I must;
Now, bit by bit, I brush away
What hid the child beneath the clay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What use is all I claim to know
If wonder has no room to grow?
What wisdom have I gathered here
If I must guard my joy with fear?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So let me play, forget the score,
And leave my standing at the door;
With muddy feet and windswept hair,
What need have I to get somewhere?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At five, would I have weighed my prayer,
Or simply known that God was there?
I\u2019d tell Him all that filled my day,
Then ask if He would come and play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And could I laugh as babies do,
A few months old, with all things new\u2014
The same face hiding, then in view,
And joy comes tumbling through anew?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At six, I\u2019d stop beside a tree:
Who taught its leaves to wave at me?
Where does the little ant belong?
And who first gave the bird its song?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m learning now to linger there,
To watch a seed ride on the air;
A lifetime\u2019s knowledge cannot close
The question waking in a rose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Achievement? Such a wistful prize
When held against a child\u2019s wide eyes;
A sad by-product, should its claim
Reduce discovery to a name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve climbed enough to turn and see
The things that waited patiently:
A beetle\u2019s back, a winding stream,
The clouds that never cease to dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Creation has so much to show
When I can say, \u201cI do not know.\u201d
Each answer opens up a door;
I step outside and find ten more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And God, whom I have sought in thought,
Through all the lessons life has taught,
Shines through whenever I let go
Of needing all the world to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The light within needs room to shine
Through fewer claims of \u201cme\u201d and \u201cmine\u201d;
Through open hands, through simple cheer,
Through love that does not count the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So may the years keep making room
For all that still has time to bloom;
And may I grow, through work and play,
More open to His world each day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-Mani<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Each passing year brings something new,Yet takes away a layer too;And wisdom, earned through joy and pain,Is teaching me to play again. How much I wore to fit the crowd!The measured word, the forehead proud,The proper wish, the practiced face\u2014The … Continue reading