I cannot sing, nor do I want to
To that Jesus on the cross
But rather to the One that
walked on water.

For Christians all over the world, today  — Good Friday — is one of the saddest days of the year.   So the sentiment expressed above by Spanish poet Antonio Machado is one, particularly, that many children might feel on this day. And yet, one cannot enter into the religious celebration of Easter without first experiencing the death of its central figure, Jesus Christ.

Good Friday is observed all over the world in various ways.  There are masses, worship services, processions and rituals carried out.  Writing or reading poetry is also a way to observe the day.  You might take out some good books about Easter from the library or check out the plethora of websites out there on poetry and Easter.  I took out an oldie found for me by my librarian friend from our local library titled Easter Poems by well known children’s poetry anthologist  Myra Cohn Livingston, illustrated by John Wallner (Holiday House, 1985) and found many good poems that reflect both the “joy and solemnity of the holiday” as the jacket flap blurb indicates.   Today is about the solemnity, of course, but soon joy will come.  Here’s an excerpt from one poem “These Three” by X.J. Kennedy that begins with the solemn lines:

These three on Friday
Lay cloudy, dark and still:
Shadows
Of three crosses
On cold Golgotha Hill

Of course, the poem ends with a trio of  images of the joy yet to come.

What books do you read to your children on this day?  Give us your recommendations, poetic or otherwise. Today’s Poetry Friday host is Kate at Book Aunt.

When I was in the UK this spring, I found a delightful poetry anthology called I Like This Poem: A collection of poems chosen by children for children in aid of The International Year of the Child.  The book was published in 1979 as a fundraiser and was unique insofar as the poems had been selected and recommended by children from ages 6-15.  The anthology is divided into age categories, so a parent or children themselves, can select the section appropriate to their age or the age of their child.  As to be expected, I had differing experiences reading the poems to my twelve year old son and my eight year old daughter.

One of the nice details in this anthology is the inclusion of a child’s comment on why s/he liked the particular poem.  I found with reading the poetry to my son — some of it difficult to grasp or opaque to him — that it helped to have another child’s comment on why the poem was liked or meaningful.  Indeed, it also helped me as a reader better experience the poem as well!  My son preferred funny poems, but I was struck by several comments by readers about how the ‘beauty’ in the poems moved them.

With my daughter, I had an entirely different reading experience.  My daughter responded best to poems that played with sounds. Midway through our readings, she got it into her head that she would like to act out the poems.  A particular favorite was “On the Ning Nang Nong” by Spike Milligan.  A playful-with-words kind of poem, it goes like this:

On the Ning Nang Nong
Where the Cows go Bong!
And the Monkeys all say Boo!
There’s a Nong Nang Ning
Where the trees go Ping!
And the tea pots Jibber Jabber Joo.

Watching my daughter happily ‘booing’ like a monkey and ‘bonging’ like a cow, I felt she was experiencing poetry at its most exuberant and celebratory best.

This week’s Poetry Friday host is Kate Coombs at Book Aunt.