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By Jack Joseph Smith

The Middle Of The Child Don't let them take this from you The story you have just begun Don't let them throw it away or sneek it and tell you it was a dream The wonder; learn how to spell by seeing Cross the creek backwards that is knowing the parts in back your life you will take again Tell them only sweetness so they will think you are kind When all you want is everything Parents included To pass them by For the world, and gifts beyond money; to see the Earth The EARTH, After All, is not silent Don't be quiet About it, For evermore

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

The poem urges the child to protect wonder, sweetness, ambition, and the desire for the whole world, with a handwritten marginal command that the Earth is not silent and one should not be quiet about it.

Its energy comes from how fiercely it guards childhood appetite. The restored handwritten note makes that appetite more cosmic and declarative, extending the poem from private childhood wanting into a demand to speak.

Claude

The Middle Of The Child. Don't let them take this from you — the story you have just begun. Don't let them throw it away or sneak it and tell you it was a dream. Cross the creek backwards; tell them only sweetness so they think you are kind while you want everything — parents included — to pass by. The handwritten tail extends into a private runic grant.