Sunday 19th December - Pause in Advent 4

 

Is this a prayer?

Vespers

Little Boy kneels at the foot of the bed,
Droops on the little hands little gold head.
Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares!
Christopher Robin is saying his prayers.

God bless Mummy. I know that's right.
Wasn't it fun in the bath to-night?
The cold's so cold, and the hot's so hot.
Oh! God bless Daddy - I quite forgot.

If I open my fingers a little bit more,
I can see Nanny's dressing-gown on the door.
It's a beautiful blue, but it hasn't a hood.
Oh! God bless Nanny and make her good.

Mine has a hood, and I lie in bed,
And pull the hood right over my head,
And I shut my eyes, and I curl up small,
And nobody knows that I'm there at all.

Oh! Thank you, God, for a lovely day.
And what was the other I had to say?
I said "Bless Daddy," so what can it be?
Oh! Now I remember it. God bless Me.

Little Boy kneels at the foot of the bed,
Droops on the little hands little gold head.
Hush! Hush! Whisper who dares!
Christopher Robin is saying his prayers.

© by owner. provided at no charge for educational 

A A Milne https://allpoetry.com/poem/8518995-Vespers-by-A.A.-Milne

It is certainly how my prayers tend to go. I'll start with good intentions, I'll try and follow a plan such as 

'T S P' - thanks, sorry, please 

'ACTS' - adoration, confession, thanks, supplication (a bit more grown up, maybe)

but quite soon I'm watching the birds gather on the TV aerial outside my window and wonder how they all know to meet up here today, instead of further down the road, and laugh at the way they jostle for the best position - clearly there is some kind of hierarchy, even for starlings. 

I'll pull myself up and try and get back on track... but that first cup of coffee was so good, I still have the taste in my mouth, shall I have a second, maybe later... oh no, I'm off again... 

Here is the poem set to music on youtube; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk_YWl68in0

not the tune I was expecting, but somehow haunting and true... a lullaby...