JONAS KEENE thought his lot a hard one Because his children were all failures. But I know of a fate more trying than that: It is to be a failure while your children are successes. For I raised a brood of eagles Who flew away at last, leaving me A crow on the abandoned bough. Then, with the ambition to prefix Honorable to my name, And thus to win my children's admiration, I ran for County Superintendent of Schools, Spending my accumulations to win -- and lost. That fall my daughter received first prize in Paris For her picture, entitled, "The Old Mill" -- (It was of the water mill before Henry Wilkin put in steam.) The feeling that I was not worthy of her finished me. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MENAPHON: SEPHESTIA'S [CRADLE] SONG TO HER CHILD by ROBERT GREENE THE SUPPLIANTS: THE WORLD'S HARMONIOUS PLAN by AESCHYLUS THE LITTLE CROSS by EDITH AGNEW GREENES FUNERALLS: SONNET 7 by RICHARD BARNFIELD THE MAPLE TREE OVER THE WAY by LEVI BISHOP THE CHASE OF THE METAPHOR by RICHARD BLACKMORE THE BATTLE MUSIC by HARRY RANDOLPH BLYTHE LOVE POEMS: 2. ON A LADY'S YELLOW HAIR, POWDERED WITH WHITE by WILLIAM BROWNE (1591-1643) |