Cast the Cradle out to Sea

We long to spare our children from our myths
Not force them to choose between choice and destiny
But to deny them the fruit from this tree of knowledge
To choose only that ambrosia that is life eternal on which to feed them
Is to steal away from them all of being human
To lose them to their infancy, freeze their peach-pit hearts in innocence
And so we give our little children the gift
Of evil
We give them gifts to wield, the curse of religion to shield their hearts
We create them in our images, complex sexual creatures
Bind them in words
From our lips to theirs, as birds feed their young to fly
We give them inheritances of our anger and love and flaws and mistakes
For their own good
Bequeath them snakes and violence, lies and chocolate
We let them be pulled asunder
In hopes that the world will steal them away,
Will burn them,
Will make them whole and truly love them