Only a Child

When I was twelve or so, I wrote this, inspired by the Gospel incident.


Once Jesus said to his disciples,
“Ye all must be gentle and mild,
For ye may not enter my kingdom,
Unless ye be like to a child.”

He took a small boy that was near him,
Saying “Be like this lad, be not wild,
For none enters Heaven’s fair kingdom
If he be not as only a child.

“A child both in heart and in spirit,
An infant in love and in mind,
For it is from infants and babes that
We hear God’s praise, loving and kind.”

He blessed the young boy and caressed him
And sent him away, and then smiled;
“Ye cannot enter heaven,” he told them,
“If ye be not as only a child.”