"God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children"

Yehuda Amichai compares the maturity that comes with growing up to the God’s pity for humans in his poem “God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children.” The poem basically states that only those who are most absolute in their innocence (or the naïve) and those who are true lovers (people who love others and show others mercy, compassion, and protection just as God himself would) will receive pity from him. The poem states, “God has pity on kindergarten children. / He has less pity on school children. / And on grownups he has no pity at all,” (Amichai 1-3). These lines indicated that those who are innocent and naïve are pure, and purity of soul and actions receives mercy. The poem also states, “But perhaps he will watch over true lovers / and have mercy on them and shelter them / like a tree over the old man / sleeping on a public bench” (Amichai 9-12). The last two lines in this stanza are both funny and powerful. They are both of these things because most would think that a homeless man with such misfortune would usually exemplify the image of a person that God has forgotten, but the image of the protective tree shows that God hasn’t forgotten him. The last stanza in this poem states, “Perhaps we too will give them / the last rare coins of compassion / that Mother handed down to us, / so that their happiness will protect us / now and in other days” (Amichai 13-17). This is the stanza that implies that as humans with wisdom and understanding, we have an obligation to follow God’s example and act as he would toward those who need it the most. I really liked this poem because I was raised to live my life to help those who need it the most, and I liked seeing the general concept of my upbringing so beautifully worded.