My Child

Careful trails we've led
for children given head,
stumble stix
broken bricks
frenetic fix
A path not chosen closed.

Map and guide we light and hide
some segments to avoid,
tricky game
don't come up lame,
please son make it to the other side.

And so we watch
first ourselves
then sons
walking the wobbly path
from some birth to another death.

Though this is one case
where the means
viewed from the end
is seen by us,
and justified or not
cannot be retraced.

gf 60's