Wednesday's Verse - When Our Children are Gone

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This week’s verse moves from  an urban fantasy Seussesque verse about an unfortunate meeting with an elf to a speculative verse provoked by a colleague's comment that parents are likely to outlive their children because of their children's unhealthy lifestyle choices. It is taken from 365 Days of Poetry, a collection of mixed-genre poetry released in 2015.

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When Our Children are Gone



When our children are gone

who do we turn to,

in this world where the aging

outlive their own?

When we bury them under,

stand at their gravesides, forlorn,

what do we live for?

Where next do we wander?

When our children are gone

from a lifestyle decayed,

poisoned by too many good things

hard-bought,

hard-won by our labours,

bestowed as our plunder,

not earned or worked for,

but given away?

When our children are gone,

and we are what’s left,

and the world turns again,

come the hard times, the good times,

the warp and the weft.

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You can find the first two poetry collections at the links below - although there are plans to reissue them with more genre-appropriate covers in the future. The third collection will be released later in the year.



Location: Canberra ACT 2601, Australia

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