Ode to Family

A family’s love is learned when just a child,
Before the use of words are on the tongue,
A mother wraps her arms on infant mild,
A father plays and swings you when you’re young,
And others care when members are quite old,
To cure the ills and pains and keep them safe,
From childhood when we made the cakes of mud,
And parents wrapped us for the bitter cold,
Together love; protect from worldly chafe,
And joined; constrained by lineage of blood.

And yet there are the ones that go a sea,
They seem so far away and all alone,
On family issues they will not agree,
The distance and the walls they finely hone,
There is a point at which they want to stray,
A separation from the family font,
Ignoring that they are from single seed,
All others wish their fears they could allay,
And fill the inner yearning of their want,
Or quench the thirst for answers in their need.

And still together we must live and learn,
Protect each one from dangerous alarm,
Offer prayer on travel and return,
Give sympathy; reach out the loving arm,
With only love the truest family form,
And gather guidance from our God above,
Regardless where our children choose to roam,
Remind them of the place of comfort warm,
That's centered in the heart of gracious love,
Together there is peace within that home.

Peter Lowell Paulson
January 23, 2011