Poems from Susan’s Childhood (Jan. 2008)

January 16, 2008
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Susan's Thursday morning note January 2008
Poetry from Susan’s childhood
Good morning! I am having a hard time not just heading right over to the warm couch with Camden!  I was reading two different books of poetry this week that were referred to often in Anne Lindbergh’s journals.  They are both way “over my head” – yet, I was determined to keep plugging, thinking I could get some wisdom for you and me this week.  But, lying in bed last night thinking about this note I decided to go back to the earliest poems that I ever learned.  I thought they would be fun to start with for our new year – youthful thinking.  I’ll bet there is some wisdom of someone wise out there somewhere from ages past that would have a quote on that!!!  So, instead of Rilke or words from de chardin (those were the authors of who I was plugging through)…let me give you the poetry passed down from the archives of my dad – told over and over again in baths, showers, vacations, singing, humming, to little children for years.  I hope that if you knew him these will make you grin, if you didn’t – you will grin at the words!  I don’t know who to give credit to for the poetry, but here goes…  (smile!)
On mules you find two legs behind 
and two you find before.
You stand behind
before you find
what the two behind be for!

and

What a wonderful bird the frog are!
When he stand he sit almost;
When he hop he fly almost.
He ain't got no sense hardly;
He ain't got no tail hardly either.
When he sit, he sit on what he ain't got almost.
(Oh, I just thought of one each morning from my mom…- and I’m not exaggerating on each morning – the rolling of our eyes back at her)…
The birdy with the yellow bill
jumped up on my window sill.
Cocked his shiny eyes and said,
"Ain't you 'shamed, you sleepy head?"

So, there you have my smiles for the day – the earliest form of poetry given to me so long ago.  Make sure you somewhere write in your own writing (not on an e-mail!) the little sayings that you remember from your childhood.  Keep them going – don’t forget.  Even those little morsels that may seem insignificant are what made the you that you see in the mirror!! I will give you a prayer that I read in an anthology this morning.  The sixth of January is the feast of Epiphany, when the three Magi brought their gifts to Jesus.  This is the prayer for the end of the Christmas Season and for us – the beginning of our New Year.  Now with this prayer – go take on your year with all the strength you can summon within you and with constant prayer!