“Keep me away from the wisdom
which does not cry,
the philosophy
which does not laugh
and the greatness
which does not bow before children.”
That’s a little verse by Kahlil Gibran that came before my eyes while I was looking for a poem to post on my poetry blog. And I just couldn’t move away without reading it twice over and marveling at its simplicity, and the greatness glowing in its depth.
Since the past few months, I have found myself again and again tagged (on Facebook) to poetry of several young and aspiring poets. And in almost all of those poems I found big, pedantic words used in strange or complicated sentence construction, with abrupt jerks, and gory, shocking imagery. But each one of those poems served only to strengthen my belief, the most magical poems are always the ones that use the simplest words to convey the deepest of thought. Not the ones that make you scratch your head and wonder if what you read was really poetic at all.
Maybe it’s just me, but unnecessary and forced complexity in a poem feels too intolerable to me.
But I have digressed. A discourse on poetry wasn’t what I wanted to write this post about. I wanted to write this post to continue the smile that the last line of the above verse brought up on my face -’ the greatness which does not bow before children.’
Truly, anyone who does not smilingly bow before the children must be too mean to be great. But children can usually make even the greatest men bow before their little whims, isn’t it? Truly, when a child smiles, there’s not a heart that can resist smiling along.
So let’s bow before the little kids today and go back for few moments into our childhood as well. Let’s go back to the days when fairies didn’t seem just fiction and toys were not things. When nothing seemed impossible to our little racing minds. Angels were real, fairies were real and toys could walk and talk and obey our every command. That was wonderful, wasn’t it?
I wish I still had that fertile imagination! What beautiful tales I would have created then!
I know that the world is not a fairy garden. I know that it does not pay to turn away from life and lose oneself in empty fantasies. It is escapism.
And yet, sometimes the world gets just too dark. And then the heart turns and seeks to find light, even if it shines only in dreams. Sometimes, it’s actually better to take a little break from reality and let the mind wander around in happier pastures!
So that’s what I’m trying to do today, I’m taking a break from somber realities of life and turning back to the magical innocence of children’s world.
And if you want to do the same, here’s yet another poem to help you along:
Image from: http://www.fanpop.com/spots/fairies/images/18369548/title/cute-fairy-wallpaper
~*~ There are fairies at the bottom of our garden!~*~
By: Rose Fyleman
There are fairies at the bottom of our garden!
It’s not so very, very far away;
You pass the gardener’s shed and you just keep straight ahead -
I do so hope they’ve really come to stay.
There’s a little wood, with moss in it and beetles,
And a little stream that quietly runs through;
You wouldn’t think they’d dare to come merry-making there -
Well, they do.
There are fairies at the bottom of our garden!
They often have a dance on summer nights;
The butterflies and bees make a lovely little breeze,
And the rabbits stand about and hold the lights.
Did you know that they could sit upon the moonbeams
And pick a little star to make a far,
And dance away up there in the middle of the air?
Well, they can.
There are fairies at the bottom of our garden!
You cannot think how beautiful they are;
They all stand up and sing when the Fairy Queen and King
Come gently floating down upon their car.
The King is very proud and very handsome;
The Queen – now can you guess who that could be
(She’s a little girl all day, but at night she steals away)?
Well – it’s ME!
