Robbie's Poem

At Robbie's coming of age retreat last weekend, part of their time was spent writing a poem. It was done in a cool way--at least it is cool if you are 12, a boy and think writing poetry is weird! This would be Rob, incidently! They had a starting phrase like "I am" and had to come up with a word or phrase. Their mentor helped them organize all of their answers into stanzas and voila! A finished piece of poetry that gave interesting flashes into their personalities. At 12, Rob is one of the youngest of the coming of age class. He turns 13 this June but that is actually after the coming of age experience concludes. Thus in some ways, what he has taken away from this experience is not perhaps the deep philosophical type of thing that he might if he was 3 or 4 years older. Frankly, I don't care. I can see how this has helped him to grow and mature. (though when you read the poem you may marvel at the fact that I see maturity!) But there is growth and questioning happening and this is so good. Rob gave me permission to place his poem on my blog and I am honored to be able to do so. For me it totally typlifies that crazy mix of "little kid" and early teen. A mix of silly thoughts and serious concerns, dreams of the future, and just plain hungry boy child thinking of that bottomless pit he calls a stomach. (italics are Robbie's words, the regular print are the starter text the kids were given)

I am Robbie
I am friendly and happy
I wonder about science and fire
I hear siberian tigers roaring and dogs barking
I see light sabers and Johnny Depp
I want more pizza.
I am Robbie.

I am Robbie
I pretend I am a football player for the Patriots
I touch Blake, my dog
I worry about Maui, my cat
I cry when the Patriots lose
I can count on Chet, my brother
I am Robbie.

I am Robbie
I believe dinosaurs are still living
I don't know what would happen without the sun
I am guided by my conscience
I wonder where it is located
I believe in non-violence
I am Robbie.

I am Robbie
I understand why scientific research is needed--
I say it's obvious, to understand our world
I dream about morphing into animals
I try to ignore questions I can not answer
I wish I could help endangered animals
I am Robbie

I am Robbie
I am growing up.
I used to play with a toy military airplane and a toy dinosaur
I loved my cat
Now I can't wait until I can drive a car
I hope to be president of the United States someday
I am Robbie.

Windows into our children's souls are sometimes a lot like fun house mirrors to me. For me, my son's parent for 7 years now, this was one of the clearer visions into the child he is, the man he hopes to be (and geez I hope he learns that dinosaurs really are extinct!) LOL