TO PAY THE PIPER

Today, I'll share the trials of my oldest son with you.  The poem was written many years ago and things have only gotten worse.  In the end, I had to force him out of my house.  Tough love?  Maybe, I know it's tough to do and may never know if it works.  Another accident occured and he awaits sentencing.  Perhaps a year from now we will know.

TO PAY THE PIPER

 

A little boy born in the early light

Hurried to grow with all his might.

At first he could sit and then he could crawl

And finally walk, but occasionally fall.

With big sisters about, he was quick to learn

Then trouble appeared with a sudden turn,

A new baby brother was thrust his way,

Too small to even begin to play.

The little boy learned to ride on his trike

And then one day moved up to a bike

And when his big sisters would generously call

He would go riding, and occasionally fall.

When school time arrived, as always it must

The little boy cried for he couldn’t trust

All the strangers and newness coming his way.

So his Mama reminded him every day,

“Remember your sisters are just down the hall

And every one has to occasionally fall.”

Then little league ball became his big dream

With hope in his heart, he was placed on the team

And play it he did becoming the star,

His coach believing that he would go far.

He made it through chicken pox, flu and braces

His teeth now straight in all the right places.

He learned how to hunt and he learned how to fish,
At last came the girl and he made his big wish.
But about the time that he got his first car
Ol’ whiskey took over and drug him afar
To places that most of us don’t understand
But still, we were there to lend him a hand,
Even when he would occasionally fall,
And the piper still had to be paid by us all.
There were tickets and wrecks and calls in the night
And bondsmen and lawyers and judges to fight.
Through nights without sleep in hospital rooms
“You can solve it, I’m sure,” his brother assumes.

 But, much more than once he’d occasionally fall,

And forget the grand promises, one and all.

He married the girl. They were too young to see

The troubles ahead that would certainly be.

So now he’s a man with sons of his own

But the demon inside won’t leave him alone.

Through many long years, it’s been quite a haul

Sometimes we walk and sometimes we crawl.

The boys are all grown and the girl is gone

But the demon’s still there dragging him on.

A little boy born in the early light

Hurried to grow with all his might…
***