"LIKE APPLES"
Like apples ripe for picking
from a laden tree,
it's the army of our undisciplined youth today.
Spare the rod and spoil the child,
the good book says;
which, forced by law to disregard,
has become no less.
And what has been allowed to develop
in our society,
with thought and perception...
we may better see.
Take a child young enough,
and it will develop and grow;
from lessons of right and wrong learned,
from all that we sow.
When this becomes stifled by laws
preventing good discipline,
what results,
when good has been blocked and not put in?
Inhuman crimes soar,
as our prisons increasingly overflow;
with a society ready to accept anything,
to stop this woe.
The army of our youth may then be 'picked',
and given a new mind;
but that which is created...
is neither noble nor kind.
But a formidable new society,
First spoiled, then made to tow the line;
An effective army,
to carry out orders of others,
fulfill their design.
And with wily minds ready
to take this 'mistake' and put it to use;
the effective channel is created,
through which to enforce their views.
(C) Maureen.Annette Norman 1997