Excerpt-21 March, 2019

One

It was many and many a year ago,

In a kingdom by the sea,

That a maiden there lived whom you

May know

By the name of ANNABEL LEE;

And this maiden she lived with no other thought

Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,

In this kingdom by the sea,

But we loved with a love that was more than love —

I and my Annabel Lee —

With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven

Coveted her and me.

Two

It doesn’t interest me

What you do for a living.

I want to know

What you are ache for

And if you dare to dream

Of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me

How old you are

I want to know

If you will risk

Looking like a fool

For love

For your dream

For the adventure of being alive

I want to know

If you can sit with pain

Mine or your own

Without moving to hide it

Or fade it

Or fix it.

It doesn’t interest me

Who you know

Or how you came to be here

I want to know if you will stand

In the center of the fire

With me

And not shrink back.

Three

Your children are not children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,

Which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.