! Name This Teddy Bear Poem by Michael Shepherd

In the centre of the window at your local Kidz-r-Uz,
all winking fairy lights, glitter, sparkle and buy-me,
sits a bear. A Teddy Bear.

He’s the soul of Patience
in any and all religions – one paw held out
to take you by the hand – that’s, should you ask –
he’s Faith, Hope, and Love:
he’s Faith itself; he’s beyond our grown-up limits,
he’s Faith like children know – real Faith;
Faith that’s beyond the breaking faith;
he’s every hope that Christmas promises,
or Chanukah, or any other winter feast
when parents give their children tokens of their love…

he asks nothing of you, but to receive your love,
unconditionally.. a cuddly mirror of your love
in which you’ll see and know that love;
to show you Love itself unblemished..

unlike all else in this changing world
inhabited by changeable human beings,
he wouldn’t know how to let you down;
deny your faith; destroy your hope; reject your love;

he’ll be a part of your life, for life;
and rightly so. Look closely at him:
is he the one for you?

He will be your first taste of life’s nobility;
almost, you could say, divine;
he will sit for you as your steady self
in the temple of your heart;
give him the name that honours
honour itself – give him the Name
that this world means to you; a name
that none can take from him;
honour him as that.