The Older One Gets, the Younger One Should Be!

When I was little, at home I was taught

Some things about You (though not a lot).

From Mummy I learnt some lines to say

Addressed to You, a child’s way to pray.

Daily these I recited as she taught me to,

Developing this way childlike faith in You.

I don’t know why and also when it was,

But all this later on came to a firm pause.

Maybe it so happened that the older I grew

The farther I wanted to run away from You,

For, I lived in a context where it was thought

You weren’t somebody ‘modern’ folks sought.

At best, some believed, You lived far away,

And so, in daily life allowed You no say,

Turning to You only for some urgent need,

Or to fulfill an ambition or for sheer greed.

Many years later, after a very long lapse,

(A passage of half a century or so perhaps),

I went back to how in my childhood I’d do,

Speaking to You, as Mummy taught me to,

And so today, I do as I long ago once did,

Chatting with You, like when I was a kid!

In this way, then, it’s a second childhood for me:

The older one gets, the younger one should be!