Some lessons we attempt to teach our kids
they’ll learn the hard way through experience
as we did. Then we’ll hurt as their hearts break
and love them as they struggle to make sense
of life with all its unexpected turns,
of friends and lovers who deceive and lie,
who leave them feeling life is just a sham,
that happiness and love have passed them by.
It isn’t just the young who are deceived.
We’re not exempt—we who are growing old—
from lessons taught by life: sometimes it’s hard
to tell what’s genuine and what’s fool’s gold.
