Sam – A Poem by Roy Pullam
Three fingers; three candles
Her broad smile
The justification of the big day
Her questions universal
Her thirst for information
A credit
To any philosopher
The nature of death
The origin of flowers
An endless barrage
Of unanswerable queries
Questions formal education
Discourages
With the corset-tight standards
With the rigors
Of what to learn
And when to learn it
Stifling that curiosity
Thoughts and reasoning
Dormant
Until age and wisdom
Reaffirms that childhood fancy
No longer
Worrying about utility
Free thinking
A galaxy of learning
In that short time
Before age
Sweeps it all away
Do not quiet that child
Seek with her answers
Accept your own ignorance
And welcome that common journey
For hers
Is a world still expanding
A wonderful world
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