Poem Preview 09 – Wild Child
from Pen, Paper, & Heart Vol. 01: Words to the Wise.
I wrote this one while reflecting on parenting—how it’s changed, how it hasn’t, and what it means to raise a child from a distance.
Wild Child came from asking: What strength is born when kids are allowed to go through hardship—not shielded from it, but supported through it?
It’s a message for parents: trust your child’s resilience.
And for the youth: know that even when you’re alone, you’re not without. You’re being sharpened. You’re being shaped.
There’s power in that wildness. -
Wild Child
Nourished in the wild, without a mother, required skill and dexterity. Always a child wrestling tyrants, entwined with two serpents, the goddess of wisdom found the lyre of Apollo. When she drew the cords of nine, her favorite bird sprang forth within her breast. In exchange he bore in his hand, 'midst the roar by tyrants, size, strength, and freedom; a champion sacred to her. Armed and undefiled, no tyrants in the unpruned forest, Athene rose, no more a child. In honor, Nature smiled.
Source Material: Bulfinch, Thomas. “Bulfinch’s Mythology: Stories of Gods and Heroes.”, Canterbury Classics, 2015, pp. 13
Don’t forget to order and download Pen, Paper, and Heart Vol. 00: Life-Preservers today, for even more poetry.
