Everlasting Gifts

Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, 
 you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
And whoever receives one child such as this in my name 
 receives me.
                                          Matthew 18:3,5

They are wild-

flowers

in the child-deep pools

of her eyes

and hands

she holds out

 as gift

gathered

from the lush ledges

of summer’s extravagance.

All of an hour she belongs 

to their weed-filled

 kingdom

and petal-templed fields

bringing the realm’s 

bouquet 

of everlasting.  

And who can bear to hold them

without breaking open

into something gleaming

as prayer

and love’s bright bliss

in our moments

before 

the dark buckling:

as all things eventually

becoming themselves for a brief

breath

then turning

and entering 

the dazzling light-

filled fields  

of all  

possibilities.