PARENTS LIKE FOES: a sonnet

PARENTS LIKE FOES: a sonnet


No-one ever knows how their story goes,
Yet each does want to plan for his own child.
In doing so the parents act like foes,
Imposing their own wishes often wild.

On our own future we have no control,
Yet we want to control that of others.
It’s as though someone does arrange a poll,
But we insist that we write all figures.

It’s best that children be independent
To do what they perceive to be the best.
When paternal advice is duly lent,
Why not the son’s discretion do the rest?

Do let each story in its way unfold.
Let people not say that it has been told.



*Written for the ""Like a Song" Poetry Contest" , "Like a Song" Poetry Contest” Round 18, hosted by Rev-Good Job Fl. Gators. , August 2008. The prompt: The poem should have the passage— “No-one ever knows, how their story goes”. This is the opening line of this sonnet.


M C Gupta
24 August 2008