His father taught him that the world was cruel

Dangerously inhabited by knaves and fools.

He showed his boy no mercy when

He failed to stand the test,

For he’d make him grow up strong, he said,

He’d make his son the best.

Spare the rod, his father said, and spoil

The wayward child.

So vigilant the father was, he never cracked

A smile.

Anger hand in hand with truth, or so his father said,

Would make a man out of the child, when wit

And wisdom wed.

So diligent, the father watched, and every word or deed

Was scrutinized and criticized and every bitter weed,

Drawn from the soil of a boy’s  young heart

And crushed beneath the feet

Of the one who vowed to raise him right

By rigid force and  creed,

Righteous acts with love amiss will spoil

The fertile sod.

The son he raised beneath the rod grew up

And  cursed his God.