~ Anger's Friend Poem by Adeline Foster

~ Anger's Friend

Is there a human, young or old,
Who has never felt frustration’s hold?
Ah yes, my child, you’ve felt it too,
For so had I, as young as you.
For as we walk and learn and strive,
Anger is part of being alive.
And someone will tell you the way they told me
That anger is sin, but don’t you believe.
Have you seen a robin chasing a crow?
Were you not angry, for did you not know,
That the crow stole her egg right out of her nest?
You shared her anger and that was the best
That you could do for that poor mother bird.
The world’s full of injustice, I know you have heard.
Ah, now remember the day we had planned
A trip to the beach to play in the sand,
But you woke in the morning to the sound of the rain
Out on the roof-top and on each window pane.
How angry you were to think that it could
Rain on the beach as well as the woods.
Now, as you grow older, soon you will find
That you can feel anger of an other kind.
You’ll be angry at those who find fault with you
When you think that you’ve done the best you can do.
You’ll be angry at me when I’m angry at you,
Or when I make you do what you don’t want to do,
When I have to teach you and don’t know what to do
To help you to see it’s important to you.
So I’m angry at you and I’m angry at me,
For all I can do is stand there helplessly.
Or maybe I’ll yell, I might even scream,
For that moment my hope is as lost as it seems.
Then, you may acquiesce because that is your love
Till someday you’ll know what I’m speaking of.
And because you know that anger’s not sin
We’ll be able to make up again and again.
So never fear the feelings we have
Or deny that you feel what all of us have.
Make friends with anger and, like you and I,
You’ll be able to reason and understand why.
Say, “Anger, my friend, come rushing in.
Tell me your tale that we may begin
To discuss and subdue it into a sigh.”
For anger is fleeting when recognized.