By: Laura Sminchak
Child
you are fathomless
involving immeasurable depths
housing limitless spirit
bearing untold goodness.
Do not wade in the shallow pools of
their understanding of you.
Seek plunging truths.
Welcome the deep waters within
for they mute all things.
How instinctively you devour
longing and fear and exaltation
embracing contradictions
managing such multitudes
even as you are proclaimed Too Much.
What a wonder,
to be too much for this world!
stuffed to the brim with
tragedy and triumph
unable to define
with the same plain words
used for their titter-tatter.
Allow yourself to be confounded at the
divinity of the smallest and the least
sacred titter-tatter to
sacred ignorance.
Your gift is to know
their gifts.
Suffer the tide of humility to
sweep you away
again and again
murmuring
mercy for all and
seas of absolution.
Laura’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in From Whispers to Roars, Academy of the Heart and Mind, and Global Poemic. She lives in Ohio and is a licensed attorney. When she is not writing, you can find her adventuring with her young children and drinking far too much coffee.
"Parents of neurodiverse children, especially if they also have some differences, know that “different” has a negative connotation. But, different can also mean extraordinary. Sensitivity feels like a burden, but it is a rare gift. It isn’t easy for children to be square pegs in a room full of round holes, but if they are surrounded by people who value and encourage their gifts, these square pegs become our dreamers and innovators. They are trailblazers because often they must find their own way. And, they are empathetic because they understand what it means to be different. The world needs these children more than ever."