Growing Up

When bills are all paid
Home is snug and warm
Refrigerator and freezer are stocked

When illness is not an issue
Employment is rewarding
Feet are shod and attire is warm

From a babe to a toddler
A child to a teen
Young adult and onward in life

Bravery is needed at different times
In different forms to do battle
With a most fearsome enemy within.

“Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles

 is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?”

~ John Keats, Letters of John Keats