"Kid Stuff"

The wise guys
tell me
that Christmas
is Kid Stuff...
Maybe they've got
something there --

Two thousand years ago
three wise guys
chased a star
across a continent
to bring
frankincense and myrrh
to a Kid
born in a manger
with an idea in his head...

And as the bombs
crash
all over the world
today
the real wise guys
know
that we've all
got to go chasing stars
again in the hope
that we can get back
some of that
Kid Stuff
born two thousand years ago --

Frank Horne
December, 1942

I know - even Epiphany has past - but this entry was one I was pondering during the Christmas season, and it continues to ring true, even as the bells toll for Christmas past. I have loved this poem since I read it as a freshman in high school. I even memorized it. You would have thought I wouldn't have spent the last 32 years attributing it to e. e. cummings. I wondered why I could never find it in any cummings compilation - for THIRTY-TWO years (the dang poem was MEMORIZED). Sometimes, I am a slow learner. I was just so sure . . . Just as Bush and many Republicans are "sure" that we should remain in Iraq. That kind of certainty can lead down some fairly murky paths.

Now for the political twist. I think Hilary is a truly brilliant woman. I think she can run the country, and if she is the Democratic candidate for president, I will vote for her and feel quite comfortable. However . . . while I haven't finished Obama's "Audacity of Hope," I can't help feeling that this young man is also brilliant - if less experienced. And that perhaps, just perhaps, the greatest strength he brings to the political table is "kid stuff" and the "audacity" to chase some stars. He's my choice, and I hope to have the opportunity to give him my vote.