'Mommy;
What am I supposed to say
When they pat my head and ask me
If I've been good today?
I don't really want to tell them;
I don't know if I've been good.
I try so hard, and yet each day
I don't do the things I should;
For I am so forgetful;
My chores I leave undone;
And when I rush to do them
I create another one.
There are so many things to learn,
So many things to see,
And time goes by so quickly,
There should be two of me.
Sometimes I say a word in spite-
I know it isn't kind.
My heart tells me it isn't right,
But it doesn't speak in time.
Oh, Mommy dear, come tell me
Why can't I just be good,
And make you happy all the time,
Like I did in babyhood? '
'My darling child, I love you.
How wondrously you speak.
Some adults don't know what to say
When a little child they meet.
Yes, you are forgetful,
But then I'm forgetful too
Because that's the way we humans are:
You don't think I'm bad, do you?
Sometimes we foolish adults
Say a little child is bad,
And forget, when we were children,
That would have made us sad.
Many times we speak in haste,
The hurt we cause unseen.
Sometimes, when I'm impatient,
I don't say just what I mean:
For, even if you make mistakes,
You're the best that's ever been,
And when you say you love me,
You've wiped the whole slate clean
For, every time you make amends,
You've done the best you could.
The only thing that's ever bad
Is to stop trying to be good.'
Adeline Foster
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/plain-talk/
