We being so hidden from those who <br />Have quietly borne and fed us, <br />How can we answer civilly <br />Their innocent invitations? <br /> <br />How can we say "we see you <br />As but-for-God's-grace-ourselves, as <br />Our caricatures (we yours), with <br />Time's telescope between us"? <br /> <br />How can we say "you presumed on <br />The accident of kinship, <br />Assumed our friendship coatlike, <br />Not as a badge one fights for"? <br /> <br />How say "and you remembered <br />The sins of our outlived selves and <br />Your own forgiveness, buried <br />The hatchet to slow music; <br /> <br />Shared money but not your secrets; <br />Will leave as your final legacy <br />A box double-locked by the spider <br />Packed with your unsolved problems"? <br /> <br />How say all this without capitals, <br />Italics, anger or pathos, <br />To those who have seen from the womb come <br />Enemies? How not say it? <br /> <br /> <br />Submitted by Stephen Fryer<br /><br />Arthur Seymour John Tessimond<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-children-look-at-the-parents/
