Poetic wisdom

For Abby's birthday last week, I invited the kids to make cards. They were on it immediately. ViMae drew a picture of Dorothy in the tornado, while Augie decided to compose a poem. It went something like this:

I love my Mom, she's fun and great,
Nobody knows the things we can debate,
But soon I'll teach them,
And then we'll have no trouble on our date.

He sang it for us a couple of times, always pausing a few beats on the short line to keep his poem perfectly rhythmic. He was very proud of it, and for a time he ran around calling himself the world's most famous poet. I know that his mom loved his work.

Yesterday Peter and I took the kids out for lunch. Augie asked for the lemon slice that had come with Peter's fish. When he was younger, he'd eat a whole slice, peel and all. This time he just tasted it carefully and then asked for a sip of lemonade. Whereupon he declared brightly:

Lemons are sour,
Sugar is sweet.
Mix them together,
You've got a tasty treat.

I'm going to encourage him to keep rhyming, as he calls it. If he develops the habit now, it could serve him well as a means of expression, whether it's heartfelt poetry, song-writing, or simple verses just for fun.