Respect (poem)

Respect

When my child died to me, you had the task

of going from my sight, or if returning

If seeking your old place, no glance aside

No murmuring. For these rebuke, it is not kind

to come into my presence with such looks

That, saying much, and saying naught, dare teach

a parent friendship, flaunt a mourning heart

Vain! For ’tis, that you imagine only show

Long faces, weeping eyes, dark locks struck white

Those griefs of fathers we by legend know

Express what never, no more, shall be spoke

One hour my wrath compounds itself, and grief

Besets me in the guise of waste and shame

How little I incline to mercy’s balm

How like a tower young recklessness can loom

And if I flee and wander for a time

What do I see but haunts of my lost child?

Through glass I watched him play his games alone

Let this suffice, my work is done, done, done

Respect

Honesty

Zealots

(2020, Stephanie Foster)