“Row, row, row your boat,
Gently
down the stream,
Merrily,
merrily,
Merrily, merrily,
Life
is but a dream.1
The Child sang.
“Row, row, row your boat,
The Child sang.
The
Prophet hummed along.
Mr.
Whale drummed the water with his fluke,
Mr.
Eagle glided with the wind, singing,
“Gaaaak,
gaaaak, gaaaak, gaaaak,
Gaa,
Gaa, Gaa, Gaa Gaaaak.”
And
the small purple bud on the lily pad sprouted.
“Row, row, row your boat,
Gently
down the stream,
Merrily,
merrily,
Merrily,
merrily,
Life
is but a dream.2
“That life is but a dream.”
The
Child stopped.
“Is
it true, Prophet?”
“What,
child?”
“That life is but a dream.”
“It
depends, Child.”
“Prophet?”
“Yes,
Child?”
“Why
do people hurt other people?”
“What's on your mind, Child?”
“People
dying, women and girls getting kidnapped, children dying on high seas, didn’t
they have a dream too?”
“How
do you mean that, Child?”
“Like
me. Didn’t they have a dream like me?”
“Yes,
they had a dream.”
“So
what happened?”
“Me
first, me better than at the cost of others, destroy dreams, Child.”
“Is
that bad?”
“How
do you row your lily pad?”
“With
care.”
“How
do you ride Mr. Whale?”
“Gently.”
“Why,
Child?”
“Cause
I don’t want to hurt them.”
“Egotistical,
me first, me better than at the cost of others, feed destruction. It grabs hold
of the heart and turns it into a selfish monster.”
“Can
that happen to me, Prophet?”
“That
can happen to anyone, Child.”
“Prophet,
what if it happens to me?”
“It
won’t, Child.”
“Why
not?”
“It
won’t.”
“Oh,”
said The Child, and she started singing,
“Row,
row, row your boat
Gently
down the stream
Merrily,
merrily,
Merrily
merrily,
Life
is but a dream,3
And The Prophet hummed, and Mr. Whale drummed, and Mr. Eagle gaaaaked while gliding above.
Shalom,
1 This and the preceding repetitions of the nursery rhyme, Row, Row, Row Your Boat are all by Eliphalet Oram Lyte, The Franklin Square Song Collection, Copyright, 1881, New York.
And The Prophet hummed, and Mr. Whale drummed, and Mr. Eagle gaaaaked while gliding above.
Shalom,
Pat Garcia
1 This and the preceding repetitions of the nursery rhyme, Row, Row, Row Your Boat are all by Eliphalet Oram Lyte, The Franklin Square Song Collection, Copyright, 1881, New York.
I love this :)
ReplyDeleteThank you very much and thanks for story by.
DeleteShalom,
Pat Garcia
This is my favorite of all your posts so far! It is SO true! "Me" gets in the way and takes priority in our lives too often and destroys our dreams and the dreams of others. It is all too sad. "Me" should never take priority over others... But it seems to in our world today.
ReplyDeleteThat's a challenge to us all. To broaden our me thinking to thinking about others.
DeleteThank you so much for sharing your insightful thoughts.
Shalom
"And the small purple bud on the lily pad sprouted." Yes, yes. I'm looking forward to see the bloom..
ReplyDeleteThank you, Patricia.
Shalom,
Samantha
Yes, my dear, I too look forward to seeing the small purple bud bloom.
ReplyDeleteThank you for coming by.
Shalom,
Patricia