Children

 

SOURCE

 ‘Happy early days’ should be the beginning of a human life, very much alive to the wonders of the world around. Henry Vaughn (1622-’95), the Welsh Metaphysical poet considers his childhood as his angel infancy (The Retreat). Can all children afford to have this rosy view of life?

 

You are to craft a poem from a child’s perspective about everything a child comes across. See life; see this world through the eyes of a child.

 

Here are three poems by A. A. Milne, Maya Angelou and Warsan Shire. When Shire writes she opens her eyes to the harsh reality of living as an undocumented refugee in Europe.

 

You might want to write following one of them or you can have your way to set the child in a world of its own.

 

 

Now We Are Six

By A. A. Milne

 

When I was One,
I had just begun.
When I was Two,
I was nearly new.
When I was Three
I was hardly me.
When I was Four,
I was not much more.
When I was Five,
I was just alive.
But now I am Six,
I'm as clever as clever,
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.

 

 

Life Doesn’t Frighten Me

By Maya Angelou

 

Shadows on the wall
Noises down the hall
Life doesn't frighten me at all

Bad dogs barking loud
Big ghosts in a cloud
Life doesn't frighten me at all

Mean old Mother Goose
Lions on the loose
They don't frighten me at all

Dragons breathing flame
On my counterpane
That doesn't frighten me at all.

I go boo
Make them shoo
I make fun
Way they run
I won't cry
So they fly
I just smile
They go wild

Life doesn't frighten me at all.

Tough guys fight
All alone at night
Life doesn't frighten me at all.

Panthers in the park
Strangers in the dark
No, they don't frighten me at all.

That new classroom where
Boys all pull my hair
(Kissy little girls
With their hair in curls)
They don't frighten me at all.

Don't show me frogs and snakes
And listen for my scream,
If I'm afraid at all
It's only in my dreams.

I've got a magic charm
That I keep up my sleeve
I can walk the ocean floor
And never have to breathe.

Life doesn't frighten me at all
Not at all
Not at all.

 

Life doesn't frighten me at all.

 

 

Home

By Warsan Shire

 

no one leaves home unless

home is the mouth of a shark.

 

you only run for the border

when you see the whole city 

running as well.

 

your neighbours running faster 

than you, the boy you went to school with

who kissed you dizzy behind 

the old tin factory is

holding a gun bigger than his body,

you only leave home

when home won't let you stay.

 

(Read the rest HERE)

Please link one poem that is your response to the material of this prompt. When you link your poem please visit other links in the spirit of the community