sorry, paul (Romans 5:3-5)

 watching chemo drip
      into your child
   week after week, does
      not produce endurance,
   it wears your soul
         down to a nub; and
walking by the side
      of your aging parent
   through
         dementia's desert
      doesn't build character,
   it erodes your
          heart; and
though the preachers
      always pontificate
   other wise,
      too many know
         how hope
   trips them and
   leaves them crumpled
by the side of
      despair.

(c) 2017 Thom M. Shuman