Right For The Kids

There was a time when parents fought
about the care their children got.
The wife said faith and prayers would be
a gateway to recovery.

The husband said there was no way
that voodoo medicine could stay
within the house to pose as care—
there was not any science there.

Wife wandered in with Bible high
and with a whiny, plaintive cry
pled for the spirits of the night
to come and set her husband right.

The husband said to go ahead
and sleep deluded in a bed
with tattered sheets and crooked springs,
then see what superstition brings.

The wife opined her faith in Him;
that it was not a passing whim,
but was a fact the book asserted,
(stomping foot while this was blurted.)

I married you for good or worse;
(the husband tried hard not to curse.)
Yet it is clear you cannot see
the plain fact of reality.

There was a time when parents fought;
but when their fight got very hot
the husband left with kids in tow,
and gave them care so they would grow.


28 Lines
Writer’s Cramp Co-Winner
12-30-19