This is what I know to be true:
to seek change,
we must first accept what is.
Know that now is not always.
And know this too:
the path to change is slow.
Steady on.
Notes: A Golden Shovel poem is created from a line borrowed from another poem. Each word in the original line becomes an end word for a line in the new poem. I borrowed this line from arnold adoff’s “of course,” a powerful poem about social change. The lines I copied in my notebook made me think about parenting. It’s not really apparent in the poem or title, but that’s what my poem is really about.
Photo CC-BY David Yu at Flickr.com
the dirigible plum 
This is beautiful. It could be my parenting poem too. “Know that now is not always.” I need to remember that line!
This line, “Know that now is not always.” is just so dang true. Parenting, teaching, life. I feel like I need to frame it – or maybe the whole poem, which is beautiful. Also, I went and read Arnold Adoff’s poem – fantastic! Thanks for yet another enriching recommendation.
Such great advice in your poem. I love the Golden Shovel form. It doesn’t lose the original line, yet builds upon it.
Yes! We can’t change w/out acknowledging reality first, and change is slow.
BTW, I read this several times on my phone, which messed up the formatting. I could not figure out the inspiration line until I read the poem on my laptop! Not sure what that means, except I’m a confused person.