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DENIAL

Deny the forest

the monsters

a voice

deny the whispers

the knowing looks

soft swell of ground

prepared for nature's choice

 

deny the children

imagination

their voice

deny their wide eyes

their wishes to know.

 

Instead prepare the soft swell

of their souls for sacrifice

on the altar of adulthood

and the growing apart

from Gods of wonder

for other forms of worship

of numbers, statistics

 

don't deny them those

for by them they may begin

to recognize themselves,

grow old before their time.

◄ FATE

THE TIMES ►

Comments

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raypool

Sat 18th Mar 2017 11:40

I think you have got it in a nutshell SS . Because children are in need of acceptance and love they are malleable ; it is not until later that the shell develops and the subconscious start to play tricks. Life itself demands a trade-off just to survive. I think those monsters come back to haunt us.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Ray

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suki spangles

Sat 18th Mar 2017 04:25

Hi Ray,

It's a form of psychic violence - denying children their own dreams by imposing upon them the unfulfilled wishes/desires/dreams of their parents' own childhood yearnings. Cruel irony. I agree with elP too.

Suki

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raypool

Fri 17th Mar 2017 23:16

Thanks elP for your considered thoughts. I agree with you ; it is often the adults who impose themselves often without wisdom or listening to the inner child - my own experiences were with teenage step children, so I'm not directly qualified, except by intuition.

The Paul Simon song is wonderfully to the point.

Ray

elPintor

Fri 17th Mar 2017 22:05

It's sad, really--the entire poem. I mean, to impose upon a child's innocence so completely must be a kind of abuse--like cramming them into tiny little boxes and force-feeding them through tubes. Maybe the analogy is a bit of an exaggeration, but I can't help but think of how much talent gets squashed by adults who think they know so much, yet fail to see just how contrived and stupidly over-complicated they've made their own lives.

That's my rant for the evening. It's a very thoughtful and well-written piece, Ray.

elP

ps..I first read this while at work and Paul Simon came to mind..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1D3-tY9PuY

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raypool

Fri 17th Mar 2017 19:25

HI David. I really appreciate your getting into this and going to the heart of it. I think this is one that won't get the attention ...

Ray

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