Parent and Child

Anonymous

I

Once a child, now child’s come,
To the time the childhood’s done.
Grown to be a child no more,
Decision knocks upon life’s door.
Each young lion seeks a bride,
To bring forth his crowning pride;
And every mourning dove, it seems,
Seeks the husband of her dreams.
Now a couple, young and strong,
Seeks to find a place among
All the partnerships of earth,
Where they may, through loving birth,
Strike a note (a living chord),
Bring forth a child blest of the Lord.
Behold the joy the bosom feels
When child’s life is first revealed!
Once a twinkle, faith alone could see,
Is now a blest reality.
And notice Parent full of pride,
The warmth of joy so deep inside
Comes bursting forth in radiant love
And praise to God the King above.

II

But soon after that, joy will lack,
As child becomes accepted fact.
Child’s novelty soon wears away,
His presence occupies each day.
He who once was a joy to care
Becomes a burden hard to bear.
Child’s naughtiness is soon revealed,
His innocence so soon repealed.
Did Parent actually believe,
Was Parent possibly deceived
To thinking that sweet child would
Be sweet, innocent, and always good?
Could Parent have been unaware
In helpless child, lurking there,
Were seeds of wrath, by nature laid,
Hidden since child first was made?
Poor Child, he was not to blame
For Adam’s sin within his frame,
’Twas given him without a choice,
He couldn’t raise rejecting voice.
So, as was custom of his clan,
Parent followed their master plan.
Poor Child, with sin original,
Was brought to the Baptismal;
And there the priest declared sin dead
By pouring water on Child’s head.
Yet this could not destroy that pest,
But wash Child’s head alone, at best.
That fiend remained in Child’s heart,
Child’s misery was soon to start.
And so that root, it sought always
A chance to go on bold display,
A chance to raise its ugly head,
Refuse the right, do wrong instead.

III

So Parent and Child grew side by side,
The gulf between them growing wide.
Each thought alone his way was right,
They battled on through many nights.
A rod of pride did Parent wield;
Stern child yet refused to yield.
Poor Parent in his clumsy way
Hoped Child would understand and say:
“Yes, yes, I see you seek my good,
You treat me as you think you should.”
But Child, so slow to comprehend,
Refused time and again to bend.
Grim discipline, he could not bear,
Child thought hard Parent did not care.
Child did not understand nor know,
Poor Parent tried his love to show.
He hoped to form his child like him,
But Child esteemed this hope as dim.
(This child had brethren who before
Had yielded unto Parent’s roar.
For fear of punishment they ran
And quick obeyed his each command.
Now with them Parent did delight,
They neither did resist nor fight,
But meekly bowed to his control,
A thing well pleasing to his soul.)
But this child came of different stock.
Parental bellows failed to rock
Child with his spirit free and grand;
And Parent could not understand.
Thus Child, through rebellious tone,
Spent much of childhood alone.
He couldn’t relate with brethren meek;
Help from Parent he’d never seek;
Too proud to ask of or confide,
Child bottled up all things inside.
Child’s shell-like outside never failed
To keep his fragile inside veiled.
Thus Child struggled and suppressed
The longing deep within his breast,
And staunchly fought and held his ground
When Parent threw his orders ’round.
As warriors in a battle sore,
When deep engaged in bloody war,
Gain mutual respect and fear,
So Parent and Child through strife drew near.
Though each maintained his way was right
And laboured on with all his might,
Both hoped the storm of war would cease
And that they’d find that unknown peace.
But warfare lingered long and cruel.
His brethren thought Child a fool.
As years of conflict pressed the gate,
In Child sprang up bitter hate.
The fight, Child never would concede,
So mounting his subconscious steed,
Retreating to his secret den,
(where Parent could not hurt again),
The one place Parent could not find:
The deep recess of Child’s mind.

IV

For many years, Child hid in there,
Oblivious to Parent’s care,
Exploring every hidden thing.
In Child’s hideout, Child was king.
Here Child threw off every net
Placed by Parent he’d soon forget.
And now, with every stop removed,
With no more Parent to reprove,
Poor Child started on the path
That nearly brought him quick to death.
The roots were laid for sin’s career.
In Child’s mind, his plan was clear.
He walked the wild side of life,
Forgetting all Parental strife.
He swam in liquor’s murky pools,
In Child’s world, Child made the rules.
He followed every fleshly thought,
Dark carnal lust alone he sought.
He tried tobacco’s Stygian smoke,
To further smash Parental yoke.
Wild Child ran from sin to sin,
Suppressing growing guilt within.
Then sin, through long continuance,
Became the lord for whom Child danced.
While sin appeared as sociable,
Poor Child grew uncontrollable.
For Child by force had been dethroned,
As sin became king all alone.
Yes, Child was forced, sin to obey,
no longer choosing his own way.
He’d tried the road of sin and found
His hopes came tumbling to the ground.
Oh, how he longed for former days,
When his free spirit, then ablaze,
Would challenge all authority,
Refuse to bend a humble knee,
Unflinching ’neath the threatening wave,
Displaying blazing courage, brave!
Now, in defeated misery,
Forced to concede the victory,
Held fast by sin’s infernal mire,
Was Child—bound for eternal fire.
And Parent in the shadow stood,
Unable to help if he could,
For Child turned his back on him,
The bond between stretched paper thin.
Their years of war in Child bred,
A heart of stone, a conscience dead.
(Wonder if Parent ever came
To realize he was part to blame?)

V

Yet, if we’ll strain, in Child we’ll see
A tiny spark of honesty.
For years, ’twas hid from mortal sight,
But Jesus, in His holy might,
Had recognized Child’s true desire
And fanned that spark to burning fire.
He caught Child on the downward slope
And filled his heart with living hope.
There Jesus sent two angels in,
Whose words convinced Child of his sin.
They spoke of heavenly things above,
Detailed a Savior’s precious love;
They cried, “Faith is the Victory”,
The Word of Life the holy key,
By whose example Child was sure
That Jesus was his only cure.
Now Child, engulfed in gloomy woe,
Contested with a greater foe.
No longer wishing Sin to serve,
His protest did that king unnerve.
There Hell recoiled with all its might,
And threw its fierceness to the fight;
Unwilling to let Child go,
Its fiery darts more swift did throw.
And each time Child seemed to gain,
Sin fought the more, king to remain.
Child’s past parental war seemed bliss;
Seemed child’s play, compared to this.
In trying to break sin’s control,
Child warred for his immortal soul.
Child found that sin, once his delight,
Had chained and bound him choking tight.
Days, weeks, months, and years did flee,
Each closer to eternity.
Poor Child with bitter disgrace
And bleak despair across his face,
Was tempted, as sin would entreat,
To quick accept his sure defeat.
And oft Child nearly gave in,
nearly declared the victor: Sin.
But Jesus, bless His holy name,
Kept hope alive in Child’s frame,
Not willing that Child be lost
Since He had paid such awful cost.
He longed to set Child’s path aright;
In His blood, wash Child’s garments white.

VI

So Child, in anguish deep and loud,
This same child who once was so proud,
Came bowing low at Jesus’ feet,
For full salvation did entreat;
And Jesus, faithful to His word,
When Child’s humble cry was heard
Sent glowing peace to Child’s soul;
In that great moment, Child was whole.
Oh, how dear Child’s spirit danced,
Aglow with God’s deliverance.
Joy permeated every nerve,
A joy Child never did deserve.
For he, who was so dead, had been
Miraculously born again.
He sat now in a heavenly place,
Peace and contentment on his face,
And from this lofty spirit plane,
Reviewed his past as dead and vain.
The sin, he once blindly enjoyed,
By Jesus’ power, had been destroyed.
While pondering this precious find,
Rejected Parent came to mind.
All hate and wrath now purged away,
Child sought dear Parent night and day.
A song of joy could Child sing,
A ray of hope to Parent bring.
Child, sure that Parent would desire,
The warmth of Christ’s refining fire,
Declared the miracle within,
That Jesus saves and keeps from sin.

VII

Now, Parent had religion, too,
And was devoted through and through.
Each Sunday found him on his knees,
Other six found him as he pleased.
Did his God not require much,
Just now and then to keep in touch?
Did God say do the best you can,
And I’ll accept you in the end?
There seemed no need to read God’s word,
He seemed content with what he heard.
Parent would not investigate
The words he heard the priest relate.
Like his parents, and theirs before,
He clung to their tradition lore.
And all this, Child understood,
For Child, too, in childhood,
Devoutly followed Parent’s lead,
Adopting his religious creed.
For every Sunday, Child, too,
Would occupy his special pew
And listen as the priest would tell
Their set way of escaping Hell.
But one thing bothered Child then,
One gnawing question deep within,
He’d heard about a God above
Whose special attribute was love.
In worship Parent would proclaim
And call himself by Jesus’ name,
Yet Child often wondered hard
At family life, so battle-marred.
If God were love, and they were His,
Then why did so much war exist?
Child couldn’t figure out nor see
What caused this inconsistency.
Did Parent actually believe…
Was Parent possibly deceived…
In thinking the whole problem lay
With Child’s refusal to obey?
Could not the God, whom Parent served,
Supply the grace to calm his nerves?
Why did he waste such energy
By fighting to gain loyalty?
Could he not have by secret prayer
Approached God with his every care?
Poor Child felt Parent’s fury burn,
But children by example learn.
In Child, blame in part did lay;
He willingly would disobey,
But Parent was to blame in part,
Forgetting from the very start,
The Bible rule on Child’s behalf,
“Fathers, provoke them not to wrath.”

VIII

But now willing to lay aside
The differences which did divide,
Child, beaming out his new-found peace,
Knew in his heart that war had ceased.
So sure was Child, as told before,
That Parent would with joy explore
This Canaan land of liberty,
Of record clean and conscience free.
All full of love, Child drew near,
Declaring truth in Parent’s ear,
But Parent, much to Child’s dismay,
Paid little heed to all he’d say.
Poor Parent! He was satisfied
That Child was wrong again and cried,
“I have religion and will stay
Devoted ’til my dying day.”
Up, up, the shield of blind defense,
Gird up thy loins, with ignorance,
Take superstition’s crooked blade;
Again through force, try to persuade.

IX

And so it seemed that fate had sealed
These warriors to the battlefield.
But clashing in a bloodless fray,
Unlike the wars of yesterday,
Strong Child attacks in godly fear
And loves his foe and holds him dear.
Unlike the wars of yesterday,
When selfish Child sought his own way,
He battles now for truth and right,
And labours in Jehovah’s might.
So full is Child of confidence
With God’s own word as his defense,
Child hurls shots at Parent’s wall,
The force of which prepare its fall.
Parent’s religion cannot stand
The light of Heaven’s master plan;
For though her edifice is grand,
She’s built on ever shifting sand.
And though for years, she’s made her boast
Of holding sway o’er heaven’s host,
Her history, inscribed with blood,
Shows not the love of Holy God.
And Child, beholding Parent’s face,
Can sense a lack of saving grace.
Each challenge Child can prepare
Is met with hollow, empty stare.
Poor Parent, by his silence shows,
That deep inside, he surely knows:
He may be wrong. He may be lost.
Pride carries such an awful cost.
Is Parent making big mistake?
Won’t he consider for soul’s sake?
Why will he stubbornly ignore
The Word of God when brought before?
Young Child has weighed the evidence,
Given both sides an equal chance,
Can by the power of heaven’s might,
Declare which of the two is right.
But Parent cannot make that claim,
And Parent is alone to blame.
For he has been endowed from birth
With intellect of precious worth.
And he does willingly refuse
The Holy Volume to peruse.
If he be lost eternally,
’Twill be his fault exclusively.

X

So Child, by night, and every day,
Fervently ceases not to pray
That Parent may be reconciled,
First unto God, then unto Child.
But as for Child, he’ll never cease
His upward trek for Heaven’s peace.
For though his Parent he holds near,
Child’s God and Christ remain more dear.
If Child had to choose between,
He’d choose the Parent never seen,
For He’s true Father, He above,
Who saved Child by His boundless love,
Who washed away confusion’s mist,
And gave Child purpose to exist.
Yet love for Parent, Child will keep,
A love through bitter years grown deep;
’Tis love expressed for Parent’s soul,
In hopes, to God, he’ll give control.
So, toiling on in endless prayer,
Child hopes that Parent will prepare.
Oh blessed thought, there reconciled,
Saved Parent and his lowly Child,
Together at Jehovah’s throne
In Heaven’s blessed endless home.