Lions

I didn't realize what I had gone through when I started my graduate program, at the age of 30. Life had felt very challenging, but I didn't have a name for what it was. One day I came across a book on gifted children and saw this poem. It almost leaped off the page and strangled me. Tears poured down my face as the light came on and I reviewed my young life through the lens of having grown up (too fast) as a talented kid. There's more to be said, but here's the poem:

They laughed at me.

They laughed at me and called me names,

They wouldn't let me join their games.

I couldn't understand.

I spent most playtimes on my own,

Everywhere I was alone,

I couldn't understand.

Teachers told me I was rude,

Bumptious, overbearing, shrewd.

Some of the things they said were crude.

I couldn't understand.

And so I built myself a wall,

Strong and solid, ten foot tall,

With bricks you couldn't see at all,

So I could understand.

And then came Sir,

A jovial, beaming, kindly man,

Saw through my wall and took my hand,

And the bricks came tumbling down,

For he could understand.

And now I laugh with them,

Not in any unkind way,

For they have yet to face their day

And the lessons I have learned.

For eagles soar above all birds

And scavengers need to hunt in herds.

But the lion walks alone,

And now I understand.

Written by an unidentified 11-year old, and quoted int he forward of the book, The world of the Gifted Child by Priscilla Vail, 1979.