No Dress Rehearsals (Part Ii) Poem by William Cavanagh

Their only rehearsal for parenting was
The mimicry of their parent’s actions
And unfortunately
There is no dress rehearsal for life
A vicious circle, and
Ignorance was to blame

I was shown how
I should eat food and
The food I should eat
Whether I liked it or not

The fear of God and the God of fear
Temporarily made me afraid of
How I should think about religion and
How religion will punish me if
I chose not to think about religion

We were to speak when spoken to and
We were to be seen but not heard, so
I chose to become unheard and unseen
I left home at an early age