I Cannot Live My Children’s Lives For Them Poem by Shalom Freedman

I worry too much-
I don’t trust enough-
I imagine and imagine beyond what I should-
I am too involved
When they are already old enough
To make their own decisions,
And when they have for years now
Been doing what they do
Without asking me.

I am an old man
Who worries too much
I care about my children very much
I pray for them-

But perhaps I should just let go
A bit more-

I am an old man who worries too much
And should trust more-

But given where I come from
And what I have always been

I doubt I will be able to be much wiser
Than I am not now.