Children Poems
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Prologue
What is a children’s poem? Is it a poem written by adults for children? Is it a poem written by a child? I am conscious of some transformation of my thoughts when I begin to write a “children’s poems.” Half empty cups are half full. Thoughts living on the border of pessimism become optimistic. Feelings of less rapture are not acceptable. You are writing a children’s poem. An opportunity to inform and entertain and be playful. Playing are the job and the task of a child. The playing part of life is preparation to learn how to live life. Play makes children more watchful and alert to the workings of the world than those of us running the world would imagine. Children learn to play with dedicated support and other times in spite of our lack of attention.
It has been a few years since writing these children’s poems for the first two grandchildren, Jake and Juliet. I miss not writing poems for young children. There are vast opportunities for freedom and simplicity and truthfulness to the writer. There are no bounds or constraints to a child’s imagination, and therefore no limits to the flight of imagination one can take with plots, rhyming, imagery, and imagination. Everything and all things are possible. Animals can talk, people can fly, one can be as silly as our egos will allow. Children’s imaginations are boundless and seamless. Too often children are scared into reality and lose the joy of playing and exploring with their meandering imaginations. We call it growing up.
Possibly the simplicity of a children poems is closer to the truth than the most erudite and cerebral of poems. Childhood is a wonderful tine to be a child. Childhood is a time for play and children should be in no haste that playtime will end.
A Child’s Journey
A child’s journey
Begins precipitously and clandestinely
Not an event but a joyful process
Of preparation that goes to fast
Childhood will be taken from you.
Time and circumstance will demand
The world engages you
With a tender and sympathetic embrace
Or an impatient grasp and a shove
You shall glimpse horizons unknown and not chartered
Spend a lifetime finding useful work
Conjure compelling dreams
Often unable to measure the uncertain bounds of their completion
Walk an unfamiliar walk
Experience days of agony and ecstasy
At times less than fairly dispensed
Discover or invent the required crafts and tools
For survival
Explore the capacity of your DNA.
You shall set uncertain bearings
To obscure destinations
Around sightless oblique corners
Circle your metaphorical Cape Horn
Manage the vista of your dreams
Often limited by reckless thoughts
And impetuous actions
You cannot take a sabbatical from living
Because life does not last forever
Life comes to you one day at a time every day
And the journey is terminal
You must not waste the time
Also not live hastily and thoughtlessly.
Consider the need
To endure the burden of a forced march
And the malaise of unbearable road stops
Fingers grasping water are no less retentive
Than your missed opportunities
You must endure
You must persist
Fabricate new dreams and visions
And consider the profound adage
What does not kill you makes you better
And stronger or more fit for survival.
You must learn to have courageous conversations
With yourself and with others
And be both a just arbiter and a good listener
And an empowered decision maker
It is important to face death
And avoid death
Trying to be a better person
And not consume your final breath
With regrets of ill-considered deeds
Or lost opportunities
Thinking that you failed to be kinder
Or wiser
Or engaging
Or lived life less intensely.
A child’s journey
Begins precipitously and clandestinely
Not an event but a joyful process
Of preparation that goes to fast
Childhood will be taken from you.
Bless and support all the generations
Of children following in your path.
Children Know Good People
Children know good people
Children measure the affection of their glance
In the corners and recesses of their eyes
Before and during laughter.
Children can gauge the pulse of the hand
Gently laid on head or shoulder
Or a gentle tickle
That pleases and reassures.
Children anticipate the impulse
Of someone being accommodating
Offers of a quick redemption for errant deeds
The affirmation of unconditional love.
Children accept the patient justice offered
For deeds requiring remedy
With a smidgeon of thoughtful and caring firmness
When firmness is required.
Children gauge voices
Soft and melodic and engaging
Providing guidance or a pleasant jest
And the fairness and thoughtfulness
For both commands and requests.
Children feel the comfort of a lap offered
Where they can sleep quiet and warm
In the deep embrace and warmth of the lap
Always available as a way station
For solace and comfort.
Children know good people.
Bigger and Smaller
A mouse is very small
Much smaller than a rat
A rat is even smaller
Than an ordinary cat
A cat will even tell you
She is smaller than a dog
And every dog still knows
She is smaller than a hog
A hog can grow and grow
But she still knows somehow
She will never grow
Any bigger than a cow
A cow just eats all day
That’s just a matter of course
But never will get bigger
Than the very biggest horse
A horse is very proud
Being big is such a plus
But she is still much smaller
Than a hippopotamus
A hippo is very awesome
She could fill a great big tent
But she still looks up to
The much larger elephant
The elephant is very big
From her trunk out to her tail
But as big as she really is
She’s not bigger than a whale
There’s a lesson to be learned
And the lesson is always true
Being bigger and being smaller
Is just a point of view
Some little girls and boys
Are bigger or they’re smaller
Some are a little short
And others are much taller
But every animal knows
Because animals are so smart
The only size that really counts
Is your brain and your heart
So just like the animals
That comes in every size
The lesson of the heart and brain
Is simple and it’s wise
What I Learned from Mom and Dad
Everything I know and do
I learned from Mom and Dad
They are the best teachers
A little boy has ever had
Greet everyone with a smile
And they’ll smile right back at you
Listen well to what you’re told
Be sure what you say is true
Always eat your vegetables
Even broccoli and peas
Clean your room and take a bath
Remember to say “please”
Read a book and sing a song
Always do the best you can
Brush your teeth and clean your room
Try to be a better wo(man)
It’s better to be kind
Than always being right
Be good when no one’s looking
And always be polite
Be a good American
And always love your flag
Be kind to every animal
And never boast or brag
Be a very faithful friend
Try saying something nice
If you do a good deed once
Then it’s worth doing twice
Always study hard at school
And try to help your Mother
Love and help every sister
And be a good big brother
Say your prayers every night
Bless everyone you love
Be thankful for all your friends
And the sea and sky above
Everything I know and do
I learned from Mom and Dad
They are the best teachers
A little boy has ever had
The Elephant Trunk
An elephant can use his trunk
To pack up all his clothes
That’s a pun or play on words
That everybody knows
A baby elephant’s little trunk
Just grows and grows and grows
And when an elephant is very big
It hangs down to his toes
Some people say a trunk is so long
It looks just like a hose
There’s lots of uses for a trunk
An elephant would soon disclose
And I have a few ideas
That I also would propose
A trunk would make a lovely hook
To hang somebody’s clothes
A trunk could be a perch
For robins and wrens and crows
A trunk can hold a pencil
For writing poems and prose
A trunk could hold a needle
When an elephant sews
How wonderful to have a trunk
When you want to smell a rose
A trunk could be like a rope
To tie little knots and bows
A trunk can be a trumpet
That blows and blows and blows
A trunk could lead a band
With a song an elephant would compose
A trunk can also be a fence
For jumping lambs and does
A trunk is like a water pipe
Through which water flows
It would make a lovely pillow
When he is laying in repose
A trunk could handle any ball
For catches and for throws
A trunk could wave like a hand
For good byes and helloes
An elephant could shake his trunk
For yes’s and for no's
A trunk could be painted bright
So in the night it glows
He could hold his trunk up high
To make a very special pose
If he tried to hide his trunk
It’s so big it would expose
An elephant is usually happy
But be can have his woes
Sometimes he feels very high
But be can also have his lows
An elephant does not have
Just a little ordinary nose
How would he ever scratch his back
Or even touch his toes
No animal is really perfect
I imagine and suppose
God designed the elephant trunk
And heaven only knows
The trunk came out just perfect
And that’s the way it goes
My ABC’s
| Now I know my alphabet | A |
| I know my ABC’s | B |
| I can spell many words | C |
| In fact any word I please | D |
| E | |
| I can spell little words | F |
| Like cat or dog or trees | G |
| I can spell big big words | H |
| Like animosities | I |
| Like animosities | J |
| I can read many books | K |
| About other lands and seas | L |
| And I can read any poems | M |
| Or novels or histories | N |
| O | |
| I will learn to print and write | P |
| So neatly and with ease | Q |
| I will dot all my I’s | R |
| And I’ll also cross my T’s | S |
| T | |
| From when I start kindergarten | U |
| And through the universities | V |
| I’ll always thank my teacher | W |
| She taught me my ABC’s | X |
| I like all the entire alphabet | Y |
| From all the A’s to all the Z’s | Z |
The Lion and the Mouse
Did you ever hear the story
Of the very little mouse
That wandered very far
And could not find his house
A big ferocious lion
Found the mouse all alone
He took him gently in his mouth
And took him to his home
The big ferocious lion
Got some food to feed him
The mouse was very happy
That the lion didn’t eat him
The mouse stayed with the lion
And would never gripe or grouse
This was the only lion
Whose best friend was a mouse
One day the lion was hunting
In a big hole he did fall
It was too high to climb out
So for help he tried to call
The mouse was still at home
When the lion did not return
The mouse went out searching
Every trail and bush and turn
He found the lion in the hole
It really was not very nice
The mouse got all his friends
In fact one thousand mice
The thousand mice dug a tunnel
By working all day and night
The lion crawled out the tunnel
It was such a happy sight
A thousand mice together
Can do what a lion can not do
So the lion learned a lesson
And you can learn one to
Always try your very hardest
From beginning to the end
And treat every one kindly
So they may become your friend
The Money Poem for Jake and Juliet
Won’t make a cloudy day sunny
Won’t make you happy like a bunny
Won’t make everything taste like honey
But when you have money
It can make you have a smile
Make you a happy for a while
And live a very good life style
What’s more important than money
In all you do try to find fun
Be kind to absolutely everyone
Do your best and you have won
Keep this in mind about money
Spend your money very gently
Specially if you don’t have plenty
And to help you---here is TWENTY