Today's Beautiful Gem: `Letter to My Children' by Anne Wilkinson

"I guided you by rote--
Nipple to spoon, from spoon to knife and fork,
And many a weak maternal morning
Bored the breakfast hour with `manners make the man',
And cleanliness I kissed but shunned its neighbour,
Puzzled all my days by the `I' in godliness.

"Before you turn and bare your faultless teeth at me
Accept a useless gift, apology,
Admit I churched you in the rites of trivia
And burned the family incense at a false god's altar.

"If we could start again, you, newbegotten, I
A clean stick peeled of twenty paper layers of years
I'd tell you only what you know but barely know you know,
Teach one commandment, `Mind the senses and the soul
Will take care of itself, being five times blessed.'"

om s'aantih: Peace! - J. K. Mohana Rao

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