When I Was Small

When I was small and just a child

I wandered 'long these grassy trails –

Observed the milkweed and mullein

And saw life's tiniest details.

It seemed that then the plants and I

Were almost equal in our size –

And this afforded me a view

Of monarch eggs and damselflies.

And now so many years have passed

Since once I wandered through this grass.

My height is more a hindrance now

And eyes – less keen – preclude the sight

Of all the tiny precious life

That once provided great delight.

When eyes and mind are of a child,

They are more kindly blessed

Than present eyes – set high but dulled –

And mind worn down by stress.

Have years made wise the thoughts that pass

As now I wander through this grass?

Cannot as deep a truth be known

From contemplation of a stone

At a mountain's base

Than from ascending t'wards the sky

To such exalted view on high

Of grandeur and of space?

1999

(From the book Discoveries In The Dark by Doris Potter)

© Doris Potter