Sonnets for Ale (xxvi)

Forced to come into the world unwanted,
a burden to be borne and not a joy,
is a dire fate much to be lamented:
My own heart aches for such a girl or boy.
It is not love of life thus to consign
one who deserves and needs much loving care
to a harsh world which almost by design
has neither love nor kindness it can spare.
Whatever else you choose to do in life,
great deeds which shake the world or little things,
before you send a child forth towards strife,
think long from whence the wish to do so springs.
Little else you have the power to do
so makes the world your choice to cheer or rue.