Ach! There They Are

Ach! There they are – my fingerprints upon your action tough,
Just like that time I pulled your cash and was a tad too rough;
I wondered why familiar it when I saw it that day,
And now, with this piece in the pix, the logic clicks in play.

I later heard a Mennonite whose dad took better road –
From youngest days he laid it out – when she would carry load –
“At 18 years, you're on your own, and I will tell you why –
There's ten kids coming after you, whose cash I must supply.

“But I will help you learn a way to earn your way by then,
So leaving home quite smooth will be, and you will comprehend
The scrappy ways of this rough world, and know how you will bend
Or make response when rough they are, so broken heart will mend.”

I wish I'd known that earlier, a better way it was;
I later had a second chance to try again because
I lost my count, how many times I acted more his way
With you and all the rest of world – he changed my life that day –

For, what I saw in his approach, was lower slope of ramp
For folks to get up on the road than “Straight up ditch, de-camp”.
Yes, “life does work”, and “scary it” when first we leave the nest,
But people vary in the load they're built to handle best.

The first advice was better than what I'd done in the past,
(Compassion-like, delay the date till leaving day’s far past)
But better yet the second guy, that's what I now see clear –
So folks don't get all paralyzed with overwhelming fear.

I raise this, case your friend’s good words get taken now to heart
For yes, indeed, you do that task – give folks a running start –
But now I see a second glitch to add to one you've seen –
Not just the severance of “success”, but “those who've slower been”.

As I look back, the second piece of guidance that I got
Fits better with my gifting, (helping people in a spot);
For pushing folks out from the ditch is needed, yes sirree –
But I don't want them sliding back for something I can't see.

This week I saw I'd changed a lot as through the storm I drove –
Lots in the ditch had newly slipped, ‘not stop to help’ I chose –
For there was lots of traffic – medics, tow trucks by the ton –
So dropping mom’s “compassion drive” let me my errands run.

Less driven by “encourager”, now “giver's” up in me,
A balanced blend is rising up – a better way I see –
“Take cash or concept to the scene, assess just how to place
Resources that encourage them to move ahead with grace.”

One other thing I'd add today like when you saw that list
I'd made of me in mirror seen (which teachers had not missed )–
I humbled am at influence of fathers on their sons
As they help their agendas do in ways quite far from mom’s.

Impressed I am at what you've done, in rising from the dust;
In reaching out to others with compassion – tough when must;
Relationships are special – (raised that way, though different was)
When whacked, compassion took a hike, and hid from sight because –

Like others, I protected what most precious was to me –
That thimble of compassion God built in, quite small I see;
The blessing of art-therapy allowed it to return,
And form a photographic base – new ways of life I learn.

It comes – I try to focus on the road ahead, not back –
As I switch now to digital, pick up the parts I lack;
Like Kipling said, it's what we do while stinging from a whack
That pays off in the end when our compassion-side comes back.

Astounded I – Masters degree; twelve novels move along;
Some help to mom; and kids; grandkids; some poetry and songs;
Now renovations winding up; back yard is shaping up;
My quest complete; and piece I found to church's current muck!

Like you, I found a way to handle slope which was too steep;
It takes a bit more time to switch-back out of ditch to street;
Good learning that, it sharpens for me how I best can aid
Those stuck like me in life's affairs, when errors they have made.

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