The Violence That You Inflict Poem by RIC BASTASA

The violence you inflict in the boy
Is the same violence that he will
Inflict with his peers and
Even friends through and through
From the small petty matters of
His childish games to his
Affairs in school and then to
His fellowmen in the bigger
World and it will go on and on

And then you read the papers
This morning and feel threatened
By the violence that the world
Has inflicted to itself to every
Famine stricken country with
Bullets and asphyxiating gases
And weapons of mass destruction

You ask me and I will tell you
It started with you in the form
Of some discipline sticks and
Mongo beans that you impressed
Upon your little boys and girls.