What Makes A Good Child Go Bad
What makes a good Child go bad—
Is seldom one great Sin—
But many a gentle Injury
The World slips softly in—
A Promise bent—then broken—
A Hand that failed to stay—
A Rule applied like Winter
To a Heart of early May—
It is not Theft of Virtue—
But Starvation of the same—
When Praise forgets to visit—
And Love neglects its Name—
A Question left unanswered—
A Cry that learned to hide—
Until the Soul, self-parented,
Turns stranger from inside—
The Child does not go Bad—so much
As Good—denied its Bread—
And finds, in darker Cupboards,
What should have first been said—
That Tenderness is Armor—
That Mercy teaches Might—
And those who teach by Wounding
Make Night where there was Light—
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