Give

Give me definitions,

     give me rhyme.

Give me heart and sole

     and maybe time.

Give me alligator skin

     and crocodile tears.

Give me candlesticks

     and childhood fears.

I'll give you verses

curling around fingertips

if you write me

a future with us

together.

We can live on bookmarks

and dine on commas,

sweet silence dripping

from our lips.

The thought of giving reminds me of two stories.  First of all is The Giving Tree which tells the story of a tree who gives up her everything for the boy she loves.  It's the story of ultimate altruism and absolute true love.  Sure, it doesn't sound like a tree should love a boy, but when someone's been swinging around in your branches since he was little, chances are love would develop.  Second there's The Gift of the Magi.  I haven't read it in years, but I remember the giving in that story also illustrates the great love found between this couple.

Though giving and receiving gifts always makes me feel uncomfortable in some senses because I never know how to adequately thank the person or exactly what gift is right for them, I've found that gift giving is a way for people to demonstrate their love of someone.  The fact that they thought long and hard about what to give you is supposed to mean more than the actual gift itself.  The idea of materialism factors in here somewhere, but I like to think that purchasing a gift for someone is supposed to mean something.  It's more important than the price of the gift or the purchase of material to make happiness.  Maybe that goes without saying, but in a society that focuses way too much on material means as a path towards happiness, sometimes it needs saying.

Thank you, Sunday Scribbling!

"If you have much, give of your wealth; if you have little, give of your heart."

- Arab Proverb