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POPPY

by Zettel 

Posted: 09 October 2016
Word Count: 232
Summary: Not sure I should inflict another besotted grandfather poem on you but the deeply personal experience spills out into wider more general ideas: and that seemed worth sharing.


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POPPY
 
 
My love for you is absolute
as only love can be
Unbound unqualified
no walls no sky deep as any sea
You are in my every breath
and beat of by-passed heart
this love will not be denied
by a little passing death
 
You are a sunlit ebbing day
a dawn of hopeful light
a day of innocent joy to be
Your becoming is my delight
to watch to guide to ease
into a restful night
You grace the gift of life
and loving honour me
 
Wordless yet you understand
giggle skip and grin
my horizon ever there
but never reached
my equator crossed
but never seen
Unknowing beautiful
unconsciously so fair
 
I am no carpenter with skill and art
shaping how you’ll be
but a loving gardener who
with ever watchful eye
and bate-breathed anxiety
helps you grow strong and true
And as I nurture you I find
you are nurturing me
 
When I hold you close
and you cling to me
struggling against sleep
I sing you to a peaceful rest
set your spirit free to roam
the garden of your dreams
where all is what it seems
extending timelessly
 
Fathers and daughters
have a special bond
your mother’s still my joy
To share your birth your life
to laugh and rediscover play
echoes down the years
another little girl who needs
someone to still her sometime tears
 






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Comments by other Members



Cliff Hanger at 09:32 on 10 October 2016  Report this post
Besot away, Zettel it's lovely.

I particularly like the idea of not being a carpenter but a gentle gardener. What a beautiful record of your feelings for Poppy to keep forever.

Jane

Zettel at 23:23 on 11 October 2016  Report this post
Thanks for your comments Jane.

best

Z

James Graham at 20:23 on 12 October 2016  Report this post
Hello Zettel – Like Jane, I very much like the idea that in your role as grandfather you are not a carpenter but a gardener. As gardeners we work to help plants grow naturally and become fully themselves; so we should help children be themselves without trying to impose any kind of indentity on them. It shows respect for the child as an autonomous individual, and respect for the person she will become.
 
All this also illustrates what you say at the top of the page:
 
the deeply personal experience spills out into wider more general ideas.
 
Too many parents are carpenters, such as strongly religious parents who don’t allow their growing sons and daughters real freedom of choice as to what they believe.
 
I like too the way you continue the garden metaphor in the next stanza, where the world of her dreams is a garden.
 
The poem is full of simple, beautiful lines:
 
Your becoming is my delight
 
Unknowing beautiful
 
the garden of your dreams
where all is what it seems
 
to laugh and rediscover play
 
These are not all that could be quoted. This last quote especially reminds me of my own experience (some time ago; my grandchildren are now in their early twenties) – you really do ‘rediscover play’. It becomes as absorbing for you as it is for the children. My grandson was a Lego-builder (his own expression) and for his Grandpa too, Lego was fun. There were rules, though: I was allowed to choose building blocks but not allowed to put them in place. I could give advice, which was sometimes accepted. Your rediscovery of play is another example of something personal which is shared by many.
 
Again as Jane has said, this must be a poem to keep. I wonder if perhaps you are keeping a photograph album with photos of your granddaughter. The poem could find a place there.
 
James.

Zettel at 13:39 on 13 October 2016  Report this post
Thanks James.

I'm keeping a journal with poems, thoughts, ideas and 'milestones'.  I hope to add pictures at a later stage

Thanks as ever for your generous comments.

Best

Z

nickb at 08:12 on 14 October 2016  Report this post
That is really lovely Zettel.  I'm some way off being a Grandad (I think) but I do have a daughter, and you capture the overwhelming emotion of that relationship beautifully.  I'm sure when she's old enough she will love to read this as well as the rest of your journal.

Nick

Zettel at 23:46 on 14 October 2016  Report this post
Thanks Nick. Much appreciated.

Z


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