God Had Fun
Monday, 10 June 2024
| Miriam Dale
Once upon a time
Not so long ago and
Not so far away,
I was busy bemoaning some unjust
Aspect of my existence and
My Dad, in a well-timed burst of sympathy and
Parental affection, announced
‘God must have had such fun making you!’
And after I had hugged him and
We had all laughed at Mum’s
Not-quite-whisper of
‘So did we’,
I dwelt on that idea of
God taking such delight in
Me; His work.
Now this may seem like a rather
Meandering tale to you,
You may be wondering just what point it is
I am trying to get at through
This poem. But the point is, you see
I reckon that phrase is applicable to you too.
God must have had such fun making you!
Tight brown ringlets, and shoulders
Thrown perpetually back
The world is your oyster or
Perhaps your treasure map?
No stamp of fear is in your eyes
You are not the wild child
Rather; the free child
With all that you could need in life
Carried securely in its beating pocket
In the left-hand side of your ribs.
Like the kid, who goes adventuring with
A ‘kerchief full of all she needs
Tied on the end of a twig.
God must have had such fun making you!
Cell by cell by vertebrae,
Formed from the brown of dust and clay
You walk lightly on the years of history
Feet in hand-made-soft-leather-blue-Italian-shoes
Not so very far above the dust from which you grew.
God must have had such fun making you!
God must have had such fun making you!
With layers of heart in your fingertips
Everything you touch, stitched
With your care and courage.
Leaving love carefully tucked
In the little things, from blooms soft plucked
And stood in vases, to
Turned back sheets, and shiny glasses.
From a love for work, to tears for a friend
You keep your heart always ready for a lend,
God must have had such fun making you!
God must have had such fun making you!
So thanks for letting me walk a little way with you
Dear brown-ringlet crowned one, because
Just as God delights in you
Those around you do, too.
God must have had such fun making you!
Miriam Dale has been writing and performing poetry for more than a decade, for weddings and celebrations, griefs and challenges. She writes to explore experience, theology and relationship with God and life, and hopes her poems may function as story, memory, prayer and sometimes even prophecy. See more at MiriamDaleWritings.com.
Image credit: ‘God must have had such fun making you’ by Miriam Dale.
This poem will be published in the forthcoming issue of Zadok Perspectives 163 on Friendship, Play and Laughter (Winter 2024), 28. Subscribe here to receive your issue and three other forthcoming issues.
