Inspired by my students on a day when faith and optimism were... difficult.
They ramble polymorphous on;
they wild and careless play.
They try their different faces on;
their costumes they display.
Who are they, and what shall be?
they wonder. So do we,
we rooted, turgid, frozen folk,
no more formless-free.
They dance and play and sing their way -
pirate, ninja, queen -
as shifting shadows shiftless slide
From beast to superbeing.
So we were once, and once were so,
Astronauts and elves
Wizards, cowboys, paupers, princes;
Now merely ourselves.
They change and grow and change still less
Discarding extra faces
They slowly pick out one last few
They still, and take their places
As they become what they shall be
As they join us frozen
We cry in fear or ecstasy
At finished forms they've chosen
Some are heroes, strong and brave
Some are butterflies
Some are gypsies, wild and free,
Some are sages wise
Some are beauties, some are beasts
Some are dancers 'mid the throng
Some are jesters, some are kings
Some raise voices e'er in song
Some, more daring, change still more
Growing tree-like high
Stronger, fairer, stranger still
Child of sun and sky
And some, more careless, change still less
like troll-folk, trollish grown,
Shunning sun, sky, joy, and life
Till sunlight turns them stone
