The poem, ‘Your Way’ was written from observations of my children at the toddling stage.  This time of new steps, new sensations and first falls can be both uplifting and overwhelming for parent and child, but that overriding sense of wonder and discovery is truly magical, if you take a moment to find the right viewpoint.

There’s something about witnessing a child clambering up a gate to expand their field of vision that evokes images of the life before them: long stretches of play, hills of challenge, slide-downs of exhilaration and the chance to do it all again.

The world will never look as big or as beautiful as it does now.  Physically and spiritually close to nature, a toddler feels grass under bare toes, gazes at cloud creatures, bears trophies of flowers, absorbs animal noises.

And a parent can only hope these shapes, textures, colours and sounds stay clearly defined and welcoming for as long as possible; maybe for a lifetime.

Your Way

Motherhood Poem

You know where you’re going —
leaves are crisp notes, tendering
themselves at your feet.

You pay back steps:

toddling, but determined,
hill-bound, crunching on stones,
you feel each shape,

let their sharpness halt you

for one full second — you wish,
are enchanted, as foot-sure
you reach the gate’s first rung.

Up safe, you survey our animal neighbours,

greet them in their own tongue, cross
the boundaries of nature with trust.
I trust your way.

K. S. Moore

Photo by Pat Dalton… on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND