At Best There's a Lot of Hard Work and Deprivation

A baby's hard work and deprivation. A baby's washing clothes by hand. A baby's lowering Expectations. A baby's stories you just don't Understand. Cuckoo, ma, ma. A child is games you don't want to play. A child's small fights and consequent tears. A child is attending the PTA. A child is carnivals and zoos for Years. Children keep parents On theater trips. Children are freedom's memory. It's through children's fingers money slips. Children's wondering how tired can get. But parents have no mad martyr's wish. It's children they love and they want their own. Though home may never be stylish or Swish. Their strength and their growth and pride when They're grown. It's hard work and struggle. It's creation. This our visible Immortality. It's life's most satisfying station. The world's other claims mere banality