For the good of our children
Let us live for our children
For our children’s children

So claimed a neighbour
from the old village
explaining why they left
playing the children-card
like folks play the Mandela-card

(my rude self had asked
why they ran away
all those years ago
to pastures supposedly greener)

For the good of our children
love them in a tender way
you give them the advantage
at the front-end of the queue

(it is not illegal
it is not a crime
but is it ethical)

For the good of our children
they can fend for themselves
grown up and bejewelled
knowing who they need to
surnamed in the family way

Though they come through you
they might not have
your thoughts and agenda
in your own political image

(bend them shape them
school them groom them
and entitle them too)

For the good of our children
and their children’s children