Cultivation: Child at Play

Like a child
With a new toy
I persist in playing with,
‘What’s this?’

Going deeper
And deeper
Into the darkest places,
Asking ‘What’s this?’

Looking at the biggest fears,
Quite unhappily at first, but then
Once again it occurred to me,
‘What’s this?’

Smiling and laughing,
I looked even more closely
At these,
Continuing to ask, ‘What’s this?’

Knowing I’m getting repetitive,
Like a child who gets fascinated by
A certain sound, or word or phrase
And can’t stop repeating it;

The adults get so annoyed sometimes,
Perhaps because they’ve forgotten
The bliss of playing with
Something like, ‘What’s this?’

But now I’m remembering
What joy there was in
Such simplicity,
Such pleasure in, ‘what’s this?’

‘How long will this last?’ I wonder,
And then, ‘what is this wondering?
How does it feel to wonder so?’
And on and on, for as long as
‘This’ lasts, and beyond.