The BlueIris Semi-Nightly Poetry Break, 12/3/08

[BlueIris]

"Family Life"

Every family faces a frontier.
The parents practice the look of the undaunted
but things pile up, keep coming.

They may get a dog to distract the kids,
they may hunt for the very best schools,
books, toys. They may gather them in,
build or buy houses and insulate them
for all they're worth, garden just to feel
the heft of the hoe and so the kids
will know where cabbages come from
even if they won't eat them.

It's a difficult job, carving out a niche
when the only pattern they have
is the one they rejected so thoroughly.
They could lose face, or blunder through blindly,
or be like their parents, doing both.

All they can see of the enemy
are their fires, fires that burn like stars,
burn while everyone should be asleep.

The family trudges on, though progress is steep.

—Cecelia Hagen

[BlueIris]

1. Kick.

[BlueIris]

2. I had a feeling this might be too heavy for a Wednesday night.

Oh, well.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. Pilgrim's Progress...

not usre why exactly but, that is what came to my mind.

[BlueIris]

4. Hmmm, interesting. I was just happy to find a poem with a description of "family life"

as a less than blessed, wonderful experience. That's rare, especially in this day and age.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

6. maybe that is why...

because I wouldn't exactly call Pilgrim's Progress a Walk In The Park :D

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. My dear BlueIris...

Ah, this is so descriptive of parenting...

It's not easy, raising children...

Thank you!

:hi:

[BlueIris]

7. Even as a person who doesn't typically fear hard work, the parenting task

looks so terrifying to be.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. There are definitely hard parts to it...

And in my own case, those are greatly outweighed by the great joy of birthing and raising my children...

[Breeze54]

9. "Every family faces a frontier." ... but not all are homeless...

"Every family faces a frontier.
The parents practice the look of the undaunted
but things pile up, keep coming."

OR they may become homeless and live on the streets
and never have fruit or a blanket at their feet or
a home as a castle or a table to dine but HOME it will
always be when they're still entwined...