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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE CHILDREN, by JAMES OPPENHEIM Poet's Biography
First Line: Is that your reason? The children? Their future?
Last Line: He will thank you in the end.
Subject(s): Children; Childhood
First Line: Is that your reason? The children? Their future?
Last Line: He will thank you in the end.
Subject(s): Children; Childhood
IS THAT your reason? The children? Their future?
Tut! blow off the foam of sentimentality and piffle!
Look through the depths beneath.
Somehow your child had to come and take the risk of being yours:
The risk was real...
Perhaps you were poor, and his environment dirty and dark:
Or you were bad-tempered or lecherous:
Or you were the opposite of his nature and would oppose his growth.
Now, tell me: what is his future to be?
Built on a father who is a lie and evasion?
Or strong and true?
Is that last not a risk worth taking?
Is it not part of the risk of his being born your son?
Truly, sparing him pain may be the very way of spoiling his nature:
Give a child credit for being as human as you are:
Let him share the great fight:
He will thank you in the end.
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
Other Poems of Interest...
THE THREE CHILDREN by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN
CHILDREN SELECTING BOOKS IN A LIBRARY by RANDALL JARRELL
COME TO THE STONE ... by RANDALL JARRELL
THE LOST WORLD by RANDALL JARRELL
A SICK CHILD by RANDALL JARRELL
CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS
ON THE DEATH OF FRIENDS IN CHILDHOOD by DONALD JUSTICE
THE POET AT SEVEN by DONALD JUSTICE