I have two daughters.<\/p>\n
Yes, I do.<\/p>\n
And with this prompt,<\/p>\n
You could too.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But yours would never be perfect like mine,<\/p>\n
Who always listen,<\/p>\n
every time,<\/p>\n
And perfectly do as I wish them do.<\/p>\n
No, yours would have a flaw or two.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And yours, unlike mine,<\/p>\n
might disagree,<\/p>\n
were you to ask them do chores for me\u2014<\/p>\n
while mine do their chores without being asked,<\/p>\n
–even the most egregious task.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Their rooms are spotless,<\/p>\n
Their beds are made\u2014<\/p>\n
You\u2019d never guess that\u2019s where they laid,<\/p>\n
when they went to bed at an early bedtime;<\/p>\n
No playing games \u2018til half-past nine.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Yours, I suppose, are on their cell too much,<\/p>\n
Through breakfast, bath-time, school and lunch,<\/p>\n
Glued to their messages, games and such.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m just sayin\u2019; it\u2019s just a hunch.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Are they kind and thoughtful, polite and a joy;<\/p>\n
Speak when spoken to, hard to annoy;<\/p>\n
Anticipate what their mother might need,<\/p>\n
Generous givers, not given to greed,<\/p>\n
Prayers, thinkers, and doers, too?<\/p>\n
Love to learn most anything new?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I stand, again, before the mirror and preach,<\/p>\n
To myself about what is out of their reach;<\/p>\n
And remind myself that no matter the flaw,<\/p>\n
They are my<\/em> children, after all.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And years from now, when they\u2019ve grown<\/p>\n And have a family of their own,<\/p>\n My grandchildren will behave perfectly,<\/p>\n Because, of course, they take after me<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have two daughters. Yes, I do. And with this prompt, You could too. But yours would never be perfect like mine, Who always listen, every time, And perfectly do as I wish them do. No, yours would have a flaw or two. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":564,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marathon-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/564"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98592"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98605,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98592\/revisions\/98605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}