Family

As a small child
I made a big promise,
never to leave
my family, my town
my country or my faith

I abandoned them all
and flew away
to roles I had never imagined
in places I learnt of at school

My generation
sipped from the cup
of a western culture
and drunkenly conquered
the world as
we were told to do

We spoke a language
of growth
in a barren world

And now I return to
the weeping willow
and ask where are
the old ones
with the wisdom?

© Tanya Southey
#52words52weeks

This week's poem is Family in the monthly theme of Relationships and is in response to a book I am reading by Stephen Jenkinson - Come of Age - The Case for Elderhood in a Time of Trouble. It has struck a cord as to how we hero youth and as a result have created no space for wisdom in our culture. With old age being seen as a burden, rather than a time of holding the wisdom for younger generations.