Today is the last day of school for my kids before they are free for the summer.
In less than two short hours, they will be home buzzing about all the things they are going to do now that those pesky classes aren’t getting in the way.
Top priority for my son is time to use the brand new scooter that he just purchased for himself using birthday money and allowance money.
We have all kinds of other plans too, including soccer practices, soccer tournaments, swimming lessons, dance camp (for my daughter) and a family trip to Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
We have never been anywhere near Cape Cod before, so if you have any advice, I will gladly take it!
In celebration of the children’s well-earned free time, I want to share a poem in their honour.
The World’s Music
The world’s a very happy place,
Where every child should dance and sing,
And always have a smiling face,
And never sulk for anything.
I waken when the morning’s come,
And feel the air and light alive
With strange sweet music like the hum
Of bees about their busy hive.
The linnets play among the leaves
At hide-and-seek, and chirp and sing;
While, flashing to and from the eaves,
The swallows twitter on the wing.
The twigs that shake, and boughs that sway;
And tall old trees you could not climb;
And winds that come, but cannot stay,
Are gaily singing all the time.
From dawn to dark the old mill-wheel
Makes music, going round and round;
And dusty-white with flour and meal,
The miller whistles to its sound.
And if you listen to the rain
When leaves and birds and bees are dumb,
You hear it pattering on the pane
Like Andrew beating on his drum.
The coals beneath the kettle croon,
And clap their hands and dance in glee;
And even the kettle hums a tune
To tell you when it’s time for tea.
The world is such a happy place,
That children, whether big or small,
Should always have a smiling face,
And never, never sulk at all.
—Gabriel Setoun