Grumpy²

with my sister about 40 years ago

Longgggg ago and far away, lived a boy

who thought he either knew everything,

or could learn it in short order.

 

I've been reduced to arguing with people

who think we can know much of anything.

( Bear with me; I'm working on it.)

 

I hope the universe doesn't

hold our youth against us,

and that we survive it.

This is a picture of my grandson, Tanis, a Down's baby. -->

It was taken shortly before his death at 20 months.

He was born a few weeks prematurely, and suffered lung damage

as a result of too much oxygen being administered after birth.

He endured open heart surgery at the age of one

and never made a full recovery,

nor did he ever succeed in living without an oxygen tank.

His death resulted in the breakup of his parents,

and bitter legal battles over custody of the remaining child.

He was a very sweet child, and I have yet to determine in my own mind how his suffering and death have affected my life and outlook.

Prior to his birth my privately held, not shared opinion

was that the pregnancy should have been terminated.

And yet I loved him with all my heart,

and cannot deny that when he was not in pain, he enjoyed life very much.

Who adds up joy and sorrow, and decides which is the greater?