What does it mean to be a child?

 School children enjoying their uniforms in Tanzania,

Photo © World Vision New Zealand 2012

Every child living life in all its fullness,
But what does that even mean?
A child in all their usefulness,
Living in a world that's healthy and green?

Or maybe it refers to their belly,
And the fact some look so lean,

But we can't blame the parents really,

When the rain just hasn't been.

Because just as importantly,

This is one we can achieve.

We can see a world that's hungerfree,

If we only work and believe.

Perhaps it's also about education,

To help them rise above?

Could this be the key to their emancipation,

And help them to fly like a dove?

What about those held in servitude,

How can we help their cause?

We can draw attention to their multitude,

And work to end all wars.

But really the key to the phrase,

Is a child must be a child,

Able to grow through that phase,

Running and playing and wild.

I finished this piece for the dVerse Poets pub weekly poetics challenge where you are given a key word, phrase or idea and encouraged to write a piece.

The challenge this week was to celebrate Maurice Sendaks life - the author of children's book 'Where the Wild Things Are' - and because I work for World Vision, an international humanitarian organisation that focuses on children, I decided to look at our mission statement and see what it means for the life of a child.

It goes: "Our will for every child: life in all its fullness. Our prayer for every heart: the will to make it so."

I know this only loosely relates to the topic but as Maurice Sendak was someone who obviously cared a lot about children I think he'll understand ;-)

Any comments really appreciated!