Sonnet: Unreturned Love Poem by Dr John Celes

Whatever parents did for us when young,
A faint memory only remains with us;
What sacrifices they did are unsung;
One old, we can’t give them even a truss!

How much of time they spent in rearing us!
How much of tender loving care they gave!
How much they slogged for us without a fuss!
How much they trained us to nicely behave!

And yet what gratitude do we return?
We can’t look after them in old-age too;
Sometimes, we fail to take even their urn;
We simply say, “What only can we do? ”

Is this the love we pay back our parents?
Our attitude to elders is nonsense!

8-21-2001