All that I wanted was just a kind word,
A morsel of praise or a tiny little pat.
How much effort would that take,
To toss me a crumb from your table.

A child never praised.
''Twas thought of as wrong,
Kids should not hear that
From the ones they loved?

How dense can you be?
We all thrive on praise,
The way we learn and mature,
Praise the reward for a job well done.

I learned to be strong,
But at what cost to my soul?
A positive word reaches deeper
Than all the negatives in the world.

Later in life that pattern repeated
Until the psyche was healed
The dragon was slain and laid to rest
And the phoenix did rise from the ashes.

Laura R
1-26-03