She blew in like the Summer Breeze

Art credit Arthur Rackham, 1922

She blew in like the Summer Breeze;
“Mommy, may I have a drink?”
Then she asked around her cup,
“What should I be when I grow up?”

Daddy chose to teach the girl
the practicalities of the world…
“Whatever you please,” her daddy said.
“Let’s just take this loaf of bread…

“You could plant the seeds and fight 
the scorching heat and stormy nights,
till and rake the Mother Earth
to bend and make her prove her worth.

“Then, you’d harvest with a scythe
to rend the stalks and end their lives,
so you can separate the grain
and cast what you don’t crave away.

“Use the mighty grindstone power,
pulverize the wheat to flour,
blend it in with water and yeast
and vend the bread so others can feast.

“You can be the feaster too,
have anything you see, if you
compete and strive to earn your pay,
and keep on driving day after day
and year after year, so you can buy
what you hold dear, until you die.”

Then he patted her curious head;
“What’d you learn from what I said?”
She answered light and easily,
“I’d rather like to be the wheat!

“That way, I won’t rend or fight,
or pulverize, or fret at night
about how I can buy more stuff. 
I’ll be me, and that’s enough.
That’s a magic way to be!
Thanks Dad, for explaining to me.”

Her dad said, “Wait, that’s no good,
you can’t be wheat, you misunderstood.
That’s not really how it’s done!
It’s not so easy to have your fun!”

The girl smiled in a guileless way;
“You should play with me today!” 
then whirled away, glad and breezy,
sure today can be that easy.

Lee DeNoya - Taos 2021