Poem, Of Innocence

Of Innocence

By: Jeana Luttrull


To know is not to be

To be is not to know

The vapor born to all

Adam and Eve before the fall

Belonging to none

To swiftly thy time is done

Thy beauty, fragile, frail, and fleeting

Never with thyself thou meeting

Tender, kind, loving, blind

 Substance rare in adults to find

 
Impossible to hold as the wind

Impossible to grasp, a lost friend

Elders look and see

With longing they remember thee

What fleeting spring time days thou were

On Eagle’s wings thy memories blur

The laughter so freely sung

Thy value to those who have thee–dung

How I knew not of thy great worth

Thy gift bestowed upon my birth

Thou cannot be grasped nor held

Nor thy substance cut or weld

Thou cannot be shackled

Feigning thou the old witch but cackled

No actress could thy heart portray 

None can keep thy passing long at bay

Only in reality thou art truly found

With knowledge thy tie is unbound

Children look not and see thee not

With effortless truth around thee plot

Adults comprehend thee

Sadly they cannot regain thee

Timeless truth, innocence

Tender fleeting ways–innocence

But for fleeting moments thou remain

With thy passing never more the same

To know thee is not to have thee

To be thee is not to know thee

Rivers of tears thy passing cost

Innocence–lost