(On My Children)
1a. Children are Growing/
Ev’ry instant of their lives:/
Observe carefully/
#haiku
1b. Observe carefully:/
Ev’ry instant of their lives/
Children are Growing/
#haiku
A. Minor daily change/
Transforms children to people*/
But keeps their essence/
#haiku *adults
B. growth is eternal/
Occurring while you’re looking/
(& when you look off)/
#haiku
2. Kids evaporate:/
A haze of human hormones/
The whirlwind of growth/
#haiku
3. They become adults/
In identical versions/
Of their childhood wills/
#haiku
4. In their firm beauty/
The vulnerable child lives/
Hidden by Ego/
#haiku
5. The juvenile traits/
Now adult preferences/
Define who they are/
#haiku
6a. Parents only watch/
Beautiful flowers blooming/
Planted in their births/
#haiku
6b. Parents only watch/
Beautiful flowers blooming/
Planted in childhood/
#haiku
7. We are but the soil/
Our children are enriched by/
They must reach higher/
#haiku
8. As I witness growth/
I lament all the growth missed:/
Forgiving myself/
#haiku
9. As their ships depart/
Sailing away happily/
I celebrate loss/
#haiku
10. Without sacrifice/
There can be no creation/
We grow from our loss/
#haiku
11. Tremendous lives start/
With submissive surrender/
Because the world’s good*/
#haiku *G_d ?
12. I watch my kids grow/
Knowing I am just their start/
& they are perfect/
#haiku
13. Children will grow up/
Though parents sometimes do not:/
Humanity’s rules/
#haiku
