To My Future Child

Hey you,

Yeah you, little kid

Child, Naive, Innocent

You don’t know anything do you?

You don’t know what it means to be alive

You don’t know what it means to cry

You’ve never had your heart torn, dripping blood

From the insatiable chasm that is your soul.

You don’t have lovers who hold you against them at night.

You’ve never even seen the snow because guess what,

You’re from California. 

But, know what you do have?

You’ve got that thing.

That small little aspect of yourself.

No accountants have that spark

No CEO has that shimmer of light

You know what it is?

That’s hope, my dear.

That’s the dream, the ability, the wonder

You look at the ants on the leaves,

And see tiny beings with lives as intricate as your own.

You open your eyes every morning to the brightness

That comes when you’ve got no clue whats coming next.

You know some things are important,

Because mama told you it was so.

Food and drink and sleep.

You know hitting is bad,

And sharing is kind.

You’ve got the axioms all on lock.

You know that Mommy and Daddy go to work,

What work is you haven’t the faintest of ideas.

But all the things you don’t know

Those are the important things.

You don’t know why grass is green.

You don’t know how birds fly,

Or why you can’t eat candy for breakfast.

But, you’re not supposed to.

That wonder, that newness of life,

It’s the goal of art

It’s what adults secretly want.

It’s what kids want so quickly to be rid of,

But you, my sweet, you’ve got it still,

Don’t let it go.

Hold onto the wonder

Hold onto the light.