Parental Guidance
They seek their own rewards
All fairytales misbelieved
Yet their thoughts are iron shackles
Young freedoms left bereaved
Insular and full of stories
Woven from threads of yore
Profound in minor pieces
Hidden deep beneath the bore
Routines their only worship
By week by day by hour
Dullness a primary weapon
From which their progeny cower
Parents work and play at play
Make rules for their own reward.
Use every dependant to satisfy self
And then every slight is stored
Seeking ever deeper guilt
And happy ever afters
No wonder so many offspring
End hanging from the rafters
Mark Broomhall
June 2001