For parents,                           
 the birth                            of a child is a miraculous event.
 Old myths                            say
 a magical                            fairy gives to the child
 gifts of                            human character.

 I would                            ask that her gift
 to each                            child in the world
 would be                            a sense of wonder so indestructable
 that it                            would last throughout life,
 as an                            unfailing antidote
 against boredom                            and disenchantments of later years,
 against the                            sterile preoccupation with things artificial,
 against alienation                            from our sources of strength.

 (original by                            Rachael Carson adapted to basic English)