Learning to Grow

They came with eyes unseeing
As they saw the world,
When I saw them, I came to know,
I’m here to make them grow.

They didn’t know the world
The way I knew it,
I thought I have to make them know,
I have to make them grow. 

I held them in my arms,
Innocent smiles on their faces,
A smile of recognition started to flow,
I felt, I will make them grow.

My finger they held
And walked their first steps with me,
Seeing their slow and steady flow, 
I knew I was making them grow.

Small steps they took
While I took large ones,
I was fast and they slow,
And I was sure like me they will grow.

The smiles turned wide
Into grins and musical laughter, 
At times they took a blow, 
I told myself that’s how they must grow.

How soon they forget
The things they don’t like,
See things in a manner I didn’t show, 
That’s how I was seeing them grow.

While I was seeing things 
Rough and smooth in the path, 
They saw joy whether high or low,
What a way to grow!

I worked to give them the best
To make them learn all,
I was working with sweat on my brow,
Everything to make them grow.

They laughed while I worked away
To make their life comfortable, 
I wondered whether they would ever know, 
In what manner I wanted them to grow. 

They learnt the world in many ways
In a manner sweet and pure,
I couldn’t make out things true and pseudo,
While I was making them grow.

To the world I tried
To show their many talents, 
Tough times I don’t want them to undergo, 
But is that how I wanted them to grow?

When I felt sad one day
They spoke to me of things simple,
Laughs and smiles they always throw,
While I make them grow. 

While I couldn’t smile
They played on my lap,
Never does their joy go,
What will happen when they grow?

I gave them life’s problems to solve
Without anyone teaching it at all,
Simple ways they know,
Am I the one making them grow?

The true path they talk of
Say things so simply right
To their innocence I feel I must bow,
How do I make them grow?

Life’s problems big and small
In their cute smiles I forget,
I was like them some time ago,
Now, like me, I want them to grow.

Can’t I just forget 
The trials that I go thru?
Can’t I, my worries throw 
And just watch them grow?

When I see them now
I want them to be themselves, 
To me they now show,
What it is to grow.

I don’t own them
They will be themselves 
But now for sure I know,
There are here to make me grow.

I see their joy and I laugh
I had forgotten what that was like,
With them I forget all woe,
That’s how I’ve learnt to grow.

They will learn the way they should 
And I will do want I must do,
While I go on and become slow,
And simply watch them grow. 

I have learnt now that things must
Happen as Nature has made out to be,
Watching them for sure I know, 
That’s what it means to grow.

Notes: This poem is about what I have learnt from my children.