When to the garden of untroubled thought

I came of late, and saw the open door,                                                    

And wished again to enter, and explore

The sweet, wild ways with stainless bloom inwrought,

And bowers of innocence with beauty fraught,

It seemed some purer voice must speak before

I dared to tread that garden loved of yore,

That Eden lost unknown and found unsought.

 

Then just within the gate I saw a child,-

A stranger-child, yet to my heart most dear;

He held his hands to me, and softly smiled 

With eyes that knew no shade of sin or fear:

“Come in,” he said, “and play awhile with me;

I am the little  child you used to be.”

-HENRY VAN DYKE-

 

“Too soon we leave our childhood behind. A time when thoughts were pure and untainted with misconceptions or influence; when ideas were unfettered and free to roam; and our spirits were wild and unafraid to speak our truth.

With adulthood, our creativity suffers and we set boundaries on what we can and cannot share. Our fear holds us hostage and causes anxiety. So we yearn to return to a time when we stretched out on our backs and let our minds fly free to explore worlds not yet tamed. We miss that child who experienced the world with such delight and felt  peace.”    Yu/stan/kema.