If You But Knew

When I was a little girl I used to love to wear my grandma's slippers. Now, I'm watching the Doodle wear his grandma's slippers.

This was my grandma Ruth's favorite poem and although it is a love poem, the first two verses make me think about my love for the Doodle. Even on my hardest days as the parent of an autistic child, all I have to do is think of this poem. I am torn because most days I feel like autism is a curse yet the Doodle is also blessing in our lives, teaching us things I had never understood before. I've never known him any other way.

I tried to find who wrote this poem online but couldn't.

If you but knew

How all my days seem filled with dreams of you,
How sometimes in the silent night
Your eyes thrill through me with their tender light,
How oft I hear your voice when others speak,
How you 'mid other forms I seek -
Oh, love more real than though such dreams were true
If you but knew.

Could you but guess
How you alone make all my happiness,
How I am more than willing for your sake
To stand alone, give all and nothing take,
Nor chafe to think you bound while I am free,
Quite free, till death, to love you silently,
Could you but guess.

-Author unknown