Monday, February 15, 2010

Witness And Judge

There’s a thousand ways to die, they say,
And that may be so.
There’s only one kind of death when a parent dies,
And that is hard-to-bear.

We go on with our pursuits and affairs
Or let the time play out for life
And try not to think of it,
But it never really goes away.

We avoid such questions as
“What would your mother think?” or
“What would your father say?”
We spend a lot of time silently hoping
That no one’s watching today.

They aren’t apparent
So we can’t see how they take it
When we start to wheedle or whine or lie and cheat
And that’s somehow worse than when
They could still get in our face for it!

They’re the kind of ghosts we dread,
Worse by each individual’s standard than if
Frankenstein, Hitler, and a lady with a beard
All showed up at your birthday party
With pamphlets and sticky kisses,
Then very disgustingly licked
All the dessert forks and the cake knife, too!

It’s bad enough to be you or me, however the wind blows,
Without having a constant witness and judge in our head!
“Oh, quit that! Get that finger out of your nose!
What would your Daddy have said?”


rcs.

Current draft: 2/15/2010
Created on 2/10/2010 12:01 PM

2 comments:

  1. Ah yes - this one rings true!

    When I omit to clean the windows, or clean house as clinically as she did, I hear her! I smile.
    ;-)

    The "Cousin" poem (previous) rings a bell also.
    Weeks ago I sent a cousin in the UK a pile of detail about family history that I'd compiled (via Ancestry.com) No thanks were forthcoming...
    Maybe he's pissed because we have no fame or wealth in our genes. :-O

    These are good, Ron - they will provide an echo for many raders, I suspect.

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  2. Wish I had a hatful of fans like you instead of the thimbleful of readers I actually have. I'm always surprised at the lack of activity on my blog--you'd think there'd be plenty, if only because it's so easy to make a remark, whether you be friend or not, whether positive or negative in tone. I think somebody else got my share! Maybe somebody blogging about Barbie dolls or puppy dogs.

    ReplyDelete

Abandon hope, all ye who enter here! (At least put on your socks and pants.)