“Birth and Death” by Lidija Ivanek
(An homage to Wordsworth)
the newborn child
arrives in an exhale of breath
preexistent with memory
tactile and voicelessly vivid
awareness firsthand of a heaven
conformed to a perfect new soul
an emergent philosopher
touched by the intimate truths
harshly thrust among perils
of this imperfect world
oh the irony watching as time
and the nature of life
deconstructs the perfection
contaminates purity
forcing the babe to grow up
and grow through mortal suffering
dimmed of the knowledge
so bright at the time of nativity
feeling all the magic slip away
until reaching a mental maturity
learning if lucky all over again
what had once been so real
but can now be no more than
experience had by the intellect
Poesy plus Polemics 