Is It Worthwhile?

You invest your body, your time,

Your earnings, your energies,

In bringing up your children

And accept they will someday

Go away erasing memories

Of a life lived with their parents

And yes, they will have their own

Families and careers to attend

Leaving them no time to say

"Hello mom and dad, hope all is well"

But no they have no time nor inclination 

For they do not want in their lives

Presence of parents perceived 

Too dictatorial, too much interference,

Too much responsibility to handle.

So they imagine their nonexistence 

Even when they are around alive and ticking 

Who will rush, if they require any assistance?

Is this the end result of becoming parents?

Is it worth going through all this pain?

How much better are they from the childless?

Like being between a rock and a hard place!

Past, now, and beyond will the cycle 

Never change?