Clouds Sing, Earth Feeds

The gift of shapes born in a cloud
Could never make my father proud,
Or accolades of merchant‘s turn
My mother’s head toward my return,
Imagination lost on one,
But dad’s shoes worn meant dad had won.

Both parent’s dreamed of child’s success
But other’s pride spelled emptiness
For years they towed the parent’s line
Ignoring blisses grand design
Life’s meaning was vicarious
Their messed up lives beyond redress.

I do not say there was no joy
But expectations plagued the boy,
For if one won the other lost
And keeping peace had quite a cost.
Our meals at home, a tense ceasefire,
Most seasoned by both tears and ire.

My Dad was easiest to hate
He had the means to change our fate,
Mom’s sadness certainly could scare,
Seemed most on Dad, he could not share.
She viewed Dad’s livelihood as curse	
And his success just made things worse.

In truth both parents had their dreams
To see the world, an artist’s schemes,
Though Father’s dreams weren’t given voice
And raising kids derailed Mom’s choice,
Dad’s path was not his bliss at all
His family proved his downfall.

That both had lack of empathy,
In retrospect is plain to me.
And now it seems that every fight
Found justice just in being Right
Their politic’s dark history,
No plan to set the other free.

And should God care who wins at last
Their plans for children so miscast?
Shine light upon eternity
And share with all the love you see
That Spring saw grow to mighty host
That served God, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Brian Johnston
January 1, 2016

Copyright © | Year Posted 2016



Post Comments

Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.

Please Login to post a comment

Be the first to comment on this poem. Encourage this poet.

Get a Premium Membership
Get more exposure for your poetry and more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Reflection on the Important Things

Member Area

My Admin
Profile and Settings
Edit My Poems
Edit My Quotes
Edit My Short Stories
Edit My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder

Soup Social

Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us

Member Poems

Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread

Member Poets

Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest

Famous Poems

Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100

Famous Poets

Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War

Poetry Resources

Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetics
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter