Grandparents. Poems. Wishes.

Silver Pennies from the Vale of York Hoard, British Museum

Today’s poem is a wish that parents or grandparents might have for their children or grandchildren, born of a life’s wisdom.

I Bid You Keep Some Few Small Dreams

I pray that you may never have

The things you long for most,

For he who gratifies desire

Must pay a princely cost.

The world was spread out at my feet;

It spelled romance to me;

I spent ten years in travel –

Now there’s nothing left to see.

The doll I wanted as a child

Seemed strangely wonderful,

Until I held her in my arms –

Then she was just a doll.

The things we long for give to life

The purpose and the gleam.

The things we get, however fine,

Are never what they seem.

O rather would I bid you keep

A few small dreams in trust,

Than see you have the things you want

And watch them turn to dust.

Helen Frazee-Bower

Click here to order the book of children’s poetry from which this was selected, More Silver Pennies.

Carol Covin, “Granny-Guru”

Click here to order my book, “Who Gets to Name Grandma? The Wisdom of Mothers and Grandmothers”

http://newgrandmas.com

P.S. Click here to order this blog on your Kindle

Related posts

• More Silver Pennies. A Teacher Remembered. (newgrandmas.com)
• A Grandpa Looks Back. Pennies from a Heav’n. Book Thursday. (newgrandmas.com)