I did not take care of mine

I did not look to see what it needed
I did not run to it when it cried out in pain
I did not search for exactly the right thing to make it happy
I did not dress it in adorable clothes
I did not tell it how amazing it was
or that it could be anything it wanted
when it grew up

I did not research sunscreen for it in the summer
nor did I reapply it diligently every thirty minutes
I did not teach it to swim
I did not take it to see the beautiful leaves in the fall
I did not buy it a yummy hat to wear
or take it sledding in the winter
I did not take it to smell the pretty flowers in the spring
or take it to the park

I did give it some
“hand me down” knowledge
that I saw growing up
which wasn’t particularly useful

other than that
I pretty much left it to fend for itself
and in the end
it did not survive

it was dead before I “called it”
it could have gone on
way longer than it did
forever even
I could have dragged it around for years
like “Weekend at Bernie’s”
the image of which
makes me smile

try reading it substituting “do I” for “I did not”