The Child In Me
– held shades of used to be –
Though many say
He’s but a shadow,
Held shades
Of used to be,
I play their game
But truly feel,
He’s still the same
The child in me…
Some even doubt
He still be there,
And more maintain
I am for naught,
The child is gone,
My hopes are fraught
With dreams
Of used to be…
But I say not,
I know the child
Yet lives in me,
And always must
As part of man,
From birth
Until that day
We turn to dust…
It matters not,
Though but a shade
Of used to be,
I know it’s him,
And so insist
He still exists
The child in me!
written in Vence, Fr.
© Jean-Jacques Fournier
Poetry on a Canapé 
I had goosebumps when I read your poem.
“But I say not,
I know the child
Yet lives in me,”
A few years ago, a friend who had several grandchildren, said to me. “There are still times when I wish I could curl up in my mother’s lap.” We are always children, Jean-Jacques, are we not?!
A beautiful post for Mother’s Day!
Thank you, Rebecca, and of course we are always the child to whom our parents gave birth. Tho thus sorry they be, they who are to blind to see the beauty of life they give up, if and when they fail to acknowledge the child that continues to live within their being, to enjoy and to share in a manner that can be but rewarding. Like the pleasure of offering a gift for no reason, but the pleasure of giving, that only the child in you can feel that true feeling of joy…
How very very well said, Jean-Jacques!
This poem really hit home with me. Lately, finding and holding those shades of used to be is what I most long for.
Happy that it served such a purpose… shades that may become dormant, but there just the same, if but to be awakened by the child in you, the child that demands so little to keep one alive, in the full sense of the word. Happy days Liz…!
Happy days, indeed.
Such a beautiful poem, my dear Jean-Jacques! Keeping the thread that connects us with our childhood alive, is so important…
Thanks Marina…Thus wise and happy they be, they who ne’er loose the child that be from the start to the end of said life!
Indeed, my friend. 🙂
Me too, I feel the child in me. She never left although she has merged with my adult experiences. It’s truly wonderful to welcome her playfulness. A great poem.
Thank you, dear Paulette… There is no doubt that the child in you remains, for the caring person that you are and demonstrate could not be so, without she being there. Only a child can be that totally giving!
Jean-Jacques
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