On China’s one-child policy

 

China’s one-child resolution has bred
A generation of soldiers who prize
Themselves as their mother’s do.
They whine and want to quit.  The
Generals are vexed.  In my case
My mother signed so I could enlist
At seventeen.  She still had my brother

Who was twelve and another newly
Born.  It wasn’t just that though;
I was overly independent,
Prone to fight and with
A chip on each shoulder –
Just the sort to be shipped
Off to whatever wars

We wanted to pursue.  As to my
Worth my mother said years later
She wished she’d stopped
Having children after me.
She would have been able
To cast me into the priest
Of her mind’s eye.