Guest.

In moments where quiet is proper,
children rattle and clang.
Dinner is set beneath
a famine of thank you’s.
Kindness belonging within family
is replaced by words reckless and hard.

When their iniquity is complete,
judgment is handed down
from this father.

Train them up in the way
they should go.
Multiply in them the sweetness
seen in the One who loves perfectly.
Harsh hands leave
their own imprint.

A visitor in our home and
the children are the same.
I am not.

In our rooms and at our table,
there is always a quiet guest.