TOO CLOSE TO THE TREE
I loved to see her smile like a child behind a cloud
A smile shared by someone who usually shared a frown
Like a fire in the night or a storm beneath the sea
She only knew that she was right and never, never, me
She used to hug me closely as I told not to fear
But her arm became too heavy and uncomfortably near
So, I tried so hard to tell her that she should just let it be —
Not fret and worry way too much, over things she could not see
Through fads and frowns, and a war we knew was real
Parents can’t always understand the way their children feel
They could not forget the lesson that the Great Depression taught —
Groceries were very real — Sartre, Marx, and Kierkegaard were not
Psychiatrists and Art Degrees did not earn daily bread
Draft dodgers just helped Hitler put a bullet in our heads
The things our parents held so dear were only questioned more
While their children only had ideals as they rushed out of their doors
How foolish and how vain children try to be,
When they cannot see the forest among the rustling leaves
So how can our parents also know what they cannot see
Just because their children fell too close to the tree?
1/03/2019
