Grex Poetry Conference

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Grex Poetry Item 171: Learning to Walk Towards Heaven--a poem by lumen
Entered by ponder on Mon Feb 7 03:46:22 UTC 2000:

Lumen wrote this.  I'm just entering it.
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With tiny arms and hands outstretched
the little godling toddles forward
down the strait and narrow.
Loving parents of her flesh
set her on her way
to open arms of those
who bore her spirit.
The way is long, and temptations lie
all along the path.
She will fall sometimes (as babies do)
but it is easy to crawl
or stop
or reach for a dangerous toy
out of the way.
Distractions abide.
Yet, she climbs up to shaky feet
and begins anew
with a twinkle in her eye
and a bright eager smile
and toddles forward again
until she is encircled
by parents eternal.
Cannot it be this easy,
this sure
when we were mortal babes?
Can we grow to touch the heavens?
Father and Mother await our decision,
and hope to take us in.

8 responses total.

#1 of 8 by lumen on Tue Feb 8 05:15:16 2000:

hmmm, I wasn't sure about entering this because I didn't know how it 
would be received.  It wasn't necessarily intended for this audience, 
but it does express what I believe, so..

disregard that bias if that will get in the way of objective judgment

#2 of 8 by lumen on Tue Feb 8 05:17:57 2000:

actually, I don't think I was intending to enter this at all.  my wife 
commissioned me to write it during church, describing a 
daydream/vision/mental picture/whatever to me and asking for a poem that 
would describe it in verse.  so for the first time in a long while, I
wrote something down on paper.

#3 of 8 by orinoco on Tue Feb 8 21:19:05 2000:

I _love_ "the little godling."   The last third or so strikes me as a bit
corny, but the beginning is wonderful, IMO.

#4 of 8 by lumen on Wed Feb 9 17:44:24 2000:

hrm-- not sure how to overcome the corny factor, but considering the 
topic and the audience, it rather came out that way.

I may rework it.

#5 of 8 by ponder on Fri Feb 11 03:40:36 2000:

Feel free.

I'm afraid I agree with Miles on this one.

#6 of 8 by freedom on Thu Feb 24 03:52:23 2000:

For some reason mortal babes is getting me...it has beautiful imagery as a
baby learning to walk being paralleled with life? That's what I got out of
it..always having someone there to guide you..maybe I lost the meaning a
bit...actually, I'd be intrested in your interpretation lumen! :)

#7 of 8 by lumen on Mon Feb 28 02:21:49 2000:

I'm reluctant to discuss it because of the religious theme involved in 
my expression, but if you drop a line to prattj@cwu.edu, I might be 
persuaded to discuss it.

#8 of 8 by ponder on Mon Feb 28 05:29:35 2000:

<blush> sorry, Jon

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