Angela "IT"

You sit there like a tiger in your bed,
Eyes flashing, white nails tapping,
All the irritation of your sixteen years
Hurled in vengeance at anyone who crosses you.
Yet stroking your pet hamster with the innocence
of an angel.
And you have so much to say, so much to do If only "IT" would allow
you??.

Intelligence and ambition are locked into a cage
Not of your own making,
You hate your lot with a fury known only to
thwarted Youth
And yet, you paint with care-and the total
absorption of a five year old.
Other children-fellows in weakness-are handled
with love and real tenderness;
The nurses and others who people your clinical
home-
Have become recipients of your venom.
For they represent "IT"
And "IT" is king - ruling your whole life
Ruining it?..

You grind your teeth and shake your flame red
hair.
An angel in a temper?diabolical in your
helplessness.

And we must counsel acceptance
To one so full of the Future?
To one in whom the possible and probable fight a
war
To steam the tide of dreams?
Must she hide and smile and 'make the best of
things'?
Should the tiger be replaced by the lamb -all
cuddly and pliable-
And ready for the dinner table.
The tiger is a survivor and takes no prisoners
Except dreams; and thus she hugs them to herself
greedily
For they are her very existence.
Snarl on, brave angel-devil, snarl on?.
And do not let them tame you.
For in you is the whole Spirit of Mankind
celebrated.