By John Lorenz, Jlorenz@saber.net
Date: 14 July 1999

The Child Within

  
  
 

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The Child Within
Variation on the theme of Sonet XIV, by Garcilaso de la Vega


I feel like a worried dad.
My little boy has been begging me,
With tears
For this candy, 
And he knew that eating it
Would make him sick;
I knew, too, 
That because I love him
I couldn't just  give in 
And give him what he wanted
Because I didn't want 
To let him hurt himself; 
But I couldn't stand his crying anymore,
So, I ran to him, 
Just wanting him to feel better.
I said, "Don't cry so much, 
baby." "You don't know
That this thing  you want
Will get you hurt."
But in the end, 
Even though I would do anything 
To take away his little temper tantrums,
I saw that my child 
Was out of control and crazy
And even though he was going to get hurt,
He still kept on  
Begging me every day
To fall in love with you.
And he did it so much
That I gave in to him 
And spoiled him 
Giving him what he wanted: 
Forgetting about the consequences,
Not juist for him, but for me too.