Title – Think About Your Son

By – Gladys Acosta

Think About Your Son Inspirational Poem:

This is a poem I wrote a few years ago about a young man in my class. He was about 14 years old, very angry with the world and the epitome of a future dropout. One day I lost my temper and challenged him to think about his own children in the future and what he would have to offer them. I went home feeling defeated that day. I was surprised at what happened after that.


He struts himself in

with another late pass

at about half past nine A.M.

The pass is signed

by the teacher whose class

he hates even more than mine.

He does not know

he’s smarter than he thinks.

All he knows to say

is that school really stinks.

As usual he’s angry about

one thing or another.

He can’t think of anything

else but getting even

with his drunken mother.

He says that school doesn’t

change anything for him.

His dad is dead,

dead as can be.

He just wants us

to let him be.

I want to give him a pass

to let him visit himself

inside his soul,

so that he can see

what I see.

I wish I could

ease his pain,

but every attempt has been in vain.

Today I blew my cool

and almost threw him

out of school.

He danced the pity dance

and asked me

for another chance

This is who I am, he says.

I am angry; I am my father’s

only son and he left me with her.

I asked him to think about

what he had just said.

Do you want my pity?

You are not going to get it,

because I am thinking about

your son or child.

Will they have you?

Where will you find

the love that they will

need from you?

After a long hard stare at me,

he said in a stern voice,

“I will be there for them; why

do you care?

I smiled and left.

I felt I could not

do any more.

The next day he arrived

to class on time.

*

Just a few months ago, heard someone call me from a distance, when I was shopping at the mall. It was this very same young man, now all grown up holding his little boy’s hand. He introduced me to his son. They both have the same beautiful smile.

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Gladys Acosta