A Universal Concepts Project by Mrs. Kolodney

Shapes and Sizes Support Growing up “Your Kids are such good kids because they feel safe.”

Loved no matter what

Great with Grandma and Grandpa

Felt SAFE with Mom and Dad What happens to kids who don’t feel safe?

The safety of my Family

Stanza #1 (of 4)

I wandered lonely as a cloudThat floats on high o’er vales and hillsWhen all at once I saw a crowd,A host, of golden daffodils,Beside the lake, beneath the treesFluttering and dancing in the breeze

Without my family I am

alone, wandering

“lonely as a cloud.”

The members of my family make me feel

one with myself and

nature.

Stanza #2

Continuous as the stars that shineAnd twinkle on the Milky Way,They stretched in never-ending lineAlong the margin of a bay:Ten thousand saw I at a glanceTossing their heads in sprightly dance.

A safe family is as

constant as the stars

that shine in the heavens.

Stanza #3

The waves beside them danced, but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay

In such a jocund company:I gazed and gazed-but

little thoughtWhat wealth the show to

me had brought

Stanza #4

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward

eyeWhich is the bliss of solitude;And then my heart with

pleasure fillsAnd dances with the daffodils.

 High up on the platformI look down at the world belowContemplating this treacherous

leapMy fear, I hope, does not show.

 I hold on to the lifeline,

Secure in my hand,Peering at the tiny faces,

Listening to the cacophonous band.

The bitter world below megears up to steal my heart

Gossip, Prejudice, Pain.My search for ME is ready to start.

 

 My courage mustered,

My hand on the bar,I leap into the air—

Infinity is far 

My hand slips.I plummet.Far below--

The safety net envelops me.Family

High up on the platformI look down at the world below

Contemplating this treacherous leapMy fear, I hope, does not show.

I hold on to the lifeline,Secure in my hand,

Peering at the tiny faces,Listening to the cacophonous band.

facing the

world without my

family

My family is the lifeline

.

The bitter world below me Gears up to steal my heart.

Gossip, Prejudice, Pain.My search for ME is ready to start.

My courage mustered,My hand on the bar,I leap into the air—

Infinity is far

Who am I

without my

family?

I know I can make it in the

world.

My hand slips.I plummet.

The safety net envelops meFamily

But if I mess up, my family is there to catch me.

Dec. 27, 1986

Dec. 27, 2011

The End

Me, with my brothers

My Family