To Raise a Child

These are poems that are in progress -to be submitted to a contest next month.

"What you get free costs too much" Quote prompt

Version 1

Like the wind, our time is fleeting,
speeding past our ears, our growing children
taller by the year, moments fewer
and further between, they now are teens,
then parents soon to be.

Like the water, free to some
but priceless to all, is the love we give
if we are able. Yet all must learn
to allow ourselves the nourishment 
leave this world with much regret. 

Like the earth, with land so vast,
Shared by some who in peace agree, 
or parceled out in measured blocks, 
or fenced, our ownership we flaunt.  Thus are we,
with attention paid to our own offspring. 

Like the sky, so blue and wide,
our arms outstretched to embrace a child,
or engulf them deep in our darkest clouds, 
or strike as lighting for wrongful deeds, 
or cleanse with rain, our regrets to recede. 

Like the sun, so warm, 
our inner light to some ignites, but some below
the bushels, hide, or  criticize, refuse to see,
the warmth and creativity,
our children share so willingly.

Like the creator, we parents hold
the power to slow spinning hands of time,
spend a moment, share our love, ignite their minds,
silence ours so we can hear the music bubbling there,
beneath the clouds of our regrets. 



Version 2:


"What you get free costs too much" Quote prompt

We’re too broke to pay attention,
too busy to hear a child,
too tired to make dinner,
to angry to hide the ire.
Self control is often
far too much a price to pay.

Pay now or pay later,
the IRS is apt to say
but how many parents
are raising their grandchildren today?
Our precious minutes are often 
far too much a price to pay.

What we give returns tenfold
says the church to get a tithe.
They have a point.  That hug, the smile,
five minutes to a child, takes so little of our time,
but in its absence, what message lingers there?
In its presence, tenfold, the love they have to share.

If we listen to the words of our child,
perhaps they won’t grow deaf to ours.
If we invest in the cradle,
we won’t have to build the bars. 
If we invest in the lives of the young
we won’t grow old before our song is sung.   

For these gifts are rare but free,
in a time when nothing else comes near.
Lets hug our children, soothe their pain
listen to their stories, calm their fears.
For, the love of a child cannot be bought
but is offered of their own will.

The success of our youth costs so much,
no dollar amount comes near. 
By grace, we get to pay in minutes,
hugs and listening ears. 
With luck, someday, We will see
Our investment grow increasingly.