O Petulant Child!

O petulant child! You did not have your way
Now querulous, ungracious in your talk
Where have you learned such mannerisms?
What demon within resides and walks?

(response)
O judge me not! I have been taught by strife
Molded and shaped into pain’s clay fire
Fighting for a foothold and this voice now used
Barely escaping life’s funeral pyre.

Woe! How saddened that you have become
A hardened creature now walking in doubt
This world needs mercy and gentle souls
With deeds of kindness seeded about.

(response)
Woe! How cruelly your words have sliced
For my heart beats more compassion than blood
Know you not that a life lived with loss
Births the tenderest, softest and strongest of loves?

Forgive me! I saw what I chose to see
Interpreted wrongly what seemed as rebellion
Standing your ground is not outright defiance
Fighting for rights is not devil’s welcome.

(response)
My friend! Forgiveness is heaped on you warmly
And a prayer for you to God above-
Enough of ease to give you freedom
Enough of sorrows to help you love.

==Written by: Author Lee O. McGee, 2014 ==