I used to say when I didn’t know it was true

 

January 25, 2004  (I was 59)

 

I used to say when I didn’t know it was true

Parents don’t own their children

they are merely allowed to watch over them awhile

I based the assumption upon my perceptions as a child

demanding freedom without responsibility

Freedom will make its own demands upon youth

Responsibility is the gift of parenthood

Childless adults must work to attain it

I have seen them overbearing at work in civic groups

and with their surrogate pets

Some had children now gone from their lives

grown and matured into separateness

or divided by a wider disconnection

Some pathways to our gods do not cross

Some coldness requires particular insulation

individuality periods of exclusion

Life that ironic playwright casts players in multiple roles

to be played with conviction from opposing points of view

sometimes simultaneously

If one wishes to criticize the script accusations abound

If guilt is demanded there is enough both coming and going

If comprehension is to be found

it is not because it is sitting there out in the open