Let the children? - flipside B - Barbara LM Handley

Let the children?

Let the children die,
For we have already killed them.
Unpretentiously, without malice, yet deliberately
and methodically.
Let us walk the green meadows and broad forests.
Walk through them with your children,
For we will not have them long, any of them.
Let us show the children the beauties of our world,
For they will soon face away.
Let the children weep,
For our tears have dried with the passing
of our summers.
Let us comfort the children,
For they will run to us in fear.
Let us cherish the children,
For eternity is not theirs.
Let the winters come,
For without the children
Spring will bring no solace to our hearts.
Let the children laugh,
For laughter is their gift.
Let them wilt in our arms,
Like sad dandelions,
As our dreams for their future have wilted.
Let the children go,
For we have destroyed their strength.
Let the winds blow and rains come,
For the remnants of our lives will be
washed down the sewer like dead leaves,
Without our hope.
The children are our hope.
We are the children.
Let the children die.

1985

Thoughts and Comments

Although I'm an extremely optimistic person, I've also long had a fairly apocalyptic view of the future. I can remember living in near constant fear of nuclear war. I had no faith that the world would still be there tomorrow.

Published under my maiden name: Barbara Muller

Chrysalis
Robert McQueen High School
Reno, Nevada
Volume 1, No. 3
June 1985

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Contact Barbara Handley at mailto:ardea@flipsideb.com