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Dinosaur Bones & Other Childish Dreams - original poem about Lorna

Dinosaur Bones and Other Childish Dreams
I threw away an old bone my granddaughters found while visiting last week. When mommy and daddy came to get them, little Lorna couldn’t wait to show them her dinosaur bone. The look on her little face when I told her I had thrown it away will haunt me forever. I learned my lesson that day. I will never destroy a child’s dream again, even if my coffee table gets covered with “dinosaur bones”.

The Dinosaur Bone

While playing in the yard last week she found an old bleached bone;
She brought it to me, so excited her little eyes just shone.
“This came from a dinosaur” she said. You’ve never seen such pride;
It was the find of her life for a four year old, her brown eyes open wide.

As the day wore on she laid it down; Other things got her attention.
I found it on my coffee table and decided not to mention
That it was left over from table scraps we'd had some weeks before
When a hungry dog had wandered by and stood outside our door.

My husband., feeling sorry for him , had grabbed a pork chop bone
From the table where we had eaten when he heard the poor dog’s moan.
When bedtime came and she recalled the excitement of her day
She went to look for her dinosaur bone but I had thrown it away.

Her chocolate eyes welled up with tears, her heart was no longer gay,
It was only a bone in the garbage can but I had thrown her dream away.
Our little ones are so precious; We must guard their childish dreams;
For growing up soon takes its toll as they learn life’s not all it seems.

So let them keep their dinosaur bones, let them be our treasure, too.
Imagination is a wonderful thing, It’s all in your point of view.
A pork chop bone or a fossil find, either one will do,
When seen through the eyes of a little child the beauty will still come through.

Copyright 2004 by Straight From The Hart

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