To Know Them Well

A ‘Formal (Villanelle)’ Poem by Elizabeth Lancaster

And slowly they grow

Giving heart, soul, your very best

A child you will come to know

Moral compass inside them stow

Hastily, hurriedly, impatiently invest

And slowly they grow

Kneading a life, like a soft, rising dough

Point them east – they’ll go west

A child you will come to know

Hear opportunity, in their ear, whispers “hello”

While you wait to rest,

And slowly they grow

Against all odds, the spinning world and circling crows

Look away! They fall from the nest

A child you will come to know

And onward they go

And limits they test

And slowly they grow

A child you will come to know