First Birthday.

One year ago today

You were pulled like a trout

From your mother's belly

Wild, wet and squirming

The indignity not lost on you

You continue to push at the folds

Of life's tight envelope

Looking for an opening

Through which to squeeze

All your myriad dreams

Bouncing in your bee dress

Made by mum mum's hands
After she tried dying

Ignoring the gifts

In favour of the wrapping

Us singing nursery rhymes

You dancing, clapping

Your struggle will be our reality TV

That is a parent's curse

To see our children's hopes

Sieved to dust and yearning

Until they become parents too

Unlearning all that learning

© shaun patrick green 2015

The Burden of Youth.

Youth rages in its cage

Gnawing at its potential

See them in their plumage

Morally tangential

Tempting the wrath of age

Most lithe and criminal

No limits to gauge

Death all but subliminal

Making us question the stage

Not just the actors trivial

Without them no change

A life quiet, convivial

© shaun patrick green 2015