Where They Could Have Been

Corporate dialogue—entrenched in sweat and tears
Gossip bursting out among the effervescent fears
Where the children could have been—a hole of deep regret
Now we swim in rivers deep while never getting wet

What was the life our mothers wished for us to climb into
A place much worse than theirs in every way but being new
How the nails of timeless grace now sharpened to a claw
How they pick and pry in every place we find a flaw

But now we have security—it's ours and ours alone 
No god can tell me what is right, no purse or golden throne
And of the young who should have been the best of what's to come
From them hear no crying, no demands—no hurry home