Live your life
with one shoe untied
and one polished bright.
Pay your bills on time,
but still stop to stare
at puddles holding the sky.
Learn how to carry
the weight of hard days
without forgetting
how to chase fireflies.
Be adult enough
to apologize first,
to stay when things get difficult,
to build a table sturdy enough
for others to rest upon.
But be child enough
to dance in the kitchen
when nobody’s watching,
to believe clouds resemble dragons,
to laugh so hard
your stomach aches like summer.
Keep a pocket
for responsibility,
another for marbles, crayons,
tiny treasures no one else understands.
Grow older, yes—
but never so tall
that you cannot kneel
to inspect a ladybug crossing the sidewalk.
The world will ask you
to become stone.
Instead, become a tree:
strong enough to weather storms,
soft enough to keep growing toward light.
Thank-you for Reading.
Brenda Marie
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Lovely poem, Brenda, with great advice. 😍
Thank you so much, Tim! I’m really glad the poem spoke to you and that you connected with its message. Your kind words mean a lot to me. 😊
My pleasure, Brenda. 😍
This poem is absolutely beautiful, Brenda. The way you balance responsibility with wonder—polished shoes and untied laces, bills and puddles, fireflies and hard days—feels so deeply true to what it means to be human. I especially love the image of building a table sturdy enough for others to rest on while still dancing in the kitchen when no one’s watching. That tension is everything. Thank you for this gentle, wise reminder to carry both adulthood and childhood in our pockets.
Thank you so much for this thoughtful reflection. You noticed the exact tension I hoped to capture—that strange, beautiful balancing act between carrying the weight of responsibility and still leaving room for wonder.
I love the way you phrased “adulthood and childhood in our pockets.” That feels true to me too. Maybe growing up isn’t about letting go of one for the other, but learning how to carry both with tenderness.
Your words truly mean a lot to me. Thank you for reading so closely and for sharing this.