CHILDREN: ASSET OR LIABILITY

(I wrote this poem for a session, during a missionary conference, that I taught entitled “Children:  Asset or Liability”)

I spent my whole life
Trying to attain the elusive clue;
Even shunning a wife –
She’d never understand my worldview.

My ideals were rare.
I thrilled in learning men of great renown.
I had but one care –
To capture great truths and then to pass them down.

I had not the time
For frivolities of men of lesser creed;
I saw not much rhyme
In spending life with cares – to not be freed.

A working man’s house
Sat in close proximity to my lair;
And he had a spouse,
With several kids – they made their dwelling there.

Our paths crossed not much;
Our ideologies were antithetical.
His arguing crutch
Was weak – my skills polished (not a little).

He spent ev’ry day
Teaching and playing and training his young,
While my mind would stay
Entrenched in thought – theories at me flung.

This man was so blind
In wasting time just raising up the youth,
When a man could find
So much philosophy and gather so much truth.

The years passed by fast,
And then, by chance, a youth of his I met;
Now, an ear, at last,
To show him he was on the road “Regret”.

I discussed throughly
The reasons and the whys and when and where;
And, oh, so truly
I proved why knowledge simply had to have an heir.

“Your dad’s a nice guy,
But theory must be conservated;”
And then with a sigh,-
“Raising kids is simply so outdated.”

Silent all along,
The youth finally spoke with resolve not slight,
“My Dad says you’re wrong.”
And with those words I knew that man was right.

                                                                                                                                           – Nick Maulucci