Little Lambs

* For my grandson Makkie - my newest fishing buddy * ~ they … are amazing creatures with tiny little arms that stretch inches, feet … miles - they find you no matter where you are or what you’re doing and their plump-fingered hands reach right into you clutch your heart squeeze it and say “you’re mine … for all time!” and they never let go not EVER … they have a twinkle in their eye that never relents - not even in sadness or tears and if you can manage to coax a smile it reminds you of just where the sun gets its shine and the moon, it’s glow … their giggles are like butterflies dancing across a midday meadow with a bounce and bliss that makes you feel eternal and a music as gentle and sweet as any … and their spirits - indomitable delight and charm a wisdom, untainted that is lost over time (convoluted by concern and struggle) but with an insight that is awarded to only the pure-of-heart … everything they do - everything they see and find - is new and wondrous and each lesson, learned slowly constructs their personality like soft clay being shaped by the hand of experience and hardened by maturity there is no greater treasure in this world than the gift of life and nothing that carries it as tenderly as a child - joyful, exuberant, capricious nothing is or could ever be more precious a miracle than … they. Copyright © Gregory Richard Barden, September 14, 2023 ( this is a form I created called “Bookend Free Verse” )