We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
— T. S. Eliot

Play Grounds

Hamlet’s weary world was a stage.
A child’s enchanted world
is a playground.

Raise a glass to Beginner’s Mind —
the simple art of Being,
curious, present, fully engaged in play.

Here’s to an unfurled brow
and softened gaze
in my wisdom years.

May my smile lines deepen
in gratitude from simple joys, and
belly erupt in mirthful laughter.

May every room of my soulful house
become a playground
for my inner child

to immerse and re-imagine
all that is sacred, true and beautiful
in cyclic renewal each new day.

Ann West, 2016