Child, Adult, Elder

I

As a child, when I needed anything,

I would merely cry

but that would then

be something I wanted, and

as I was a child,

I would not know the things I needed

but would be swaddled when I did,

because I always did need,

for the air was pure

and the water cool and quenching,

the food, fulsome and flavourful,

my bed safely surrounded by the world.

When I cried, and is was something I needed,

the world would want to help

to put an end to the wailing

and they would change something

to give me what I needed,

to stop the noise,

and they changed me and fed me

every time I cried.

When I needed to play

the world also called that noisy,

but I didn’t know about noise

being the noise maker.

I needed the noise

and the play and the food

and the water and the air

and the touch of the swaddle.

The world needed me.

II

As an adult wants only

the quiet retreat of the past

to swaddle in, I didn’t want

to be adult and know noise

so, I played on because

I still needed the child.

The world was mine, but

I wanted to not be the world

and the child needed me.

So, I gave up what I wanted

to swaddle the child

when it needed touch

or feed the child

when it was hungry,

and yet I needed

the same things as the child

but could not cry

when I wanted to not be the world.

I could only get what I wanted

if I didn’t need it,

but I needed to swaddle the child

and give the child food

water and space to play

and keep the world from its bed.

I was the world

even if that was not what I wanted.

The world did not need me

but the child did.

III

As an elder will desire only

to breathe the air

and seek the light,

I knew I needed for nothing

and wanted for nothing

not even the air and the light.

As I desired to know the child

and understand the adult

I would choose

what to give

when to give

how to give

and why.

As I desired to hear the play

and listen to the noise

I would choose

what to receive

when to take

how to be given

and why.

As I desired to touch the swaddle

and feel the ground

I would choose

what to hold

what to manifest

where and how to be intimate

and why.

As I desired to pursue my joy

and follow my truth

I would choose

what to determine

when to express my will

how to do

but never why,

because I desired only

to breathe the air

and seek the light.