Create: A Poem about the Cycle of Life

I sat waiting for one of my children to finish up at her nature school. As we passed some time away, we sat down by the river. My 13-year-old read a book under a nearby tree. My six-year-old sat by the river creating inlets for the water to escape the mass of the river and small indents in the sand to act as ponds. As I watched him, I thought how very much it was like his dad, who can barely keep his hand still and is always making plans to create something new in the world. This is the cycle of life.

He starts with rocks and dirt, water and sand.

She starts a baby herself, holding a baby doll’s hand.

Then they grow and soon will join together,

And work towards a world where they create a tether.

A place to learn, to grow, to explore.

What was done for them, they do once more.

For the children they now carry in their arms.

No longer a young boy and girl, they protect the new generation from harm.

He builds, he works, he creates.

She softens, refines, doesn’t hesitate.

To create a world of function and ease.

A place of safety, protection, providing all that they need.

There is magic, yet it’s so ordinary.

These children they will forevermore carry,

In their heart and in their mind.

Drawing closest to love that is divine.

Oh, they aren’t perfect. Don’t you dare think that!

But they give their best with where they are at.

Then the children they once held in their arms will grow.

And use all they’ve been given so their children will know,

They are loved beyond belief and their parents hope for the best,

It continues on after the first boy and girl are laid down to rest.

(c) Shalyce Cluff