To Have And Halve Not by Dennis Lange

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To Have And Halve Not by Dennis Lange

August 11, 2011 by Dennis Lange

Of all the loads a child must bear,
…The one of sibling’s great.
It means that one must learn to share,
…And even worse, to wait.

Like times when egg nog has been bought
…And brother can’t be found,
One cannot have the part she ought
…Until he comes around.

E’en when it’s your own birthday cake
…And one last piece is left,
It’s split in half for two to take
…Like North and South were cleft.

One benefit of growing old
…(I grant there’s not a lot)
I get all now and get it whole,
…To have it and halve not.

—

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Posted in My Poems | Tagged < META name = "keywords" content = "To have and halve not, benefit of growing old" >, birthday cake, Dennis Lange, egg nog, learn to share, North and South, poem, poetry | 8 Comments

8 Responses

on August 11, 2011 at 10:39 AM | Reply TheMsLvh

So true!! I have 2 sisters. Great poem! Loved the Title/last line:
To have it and halve not.

Smiling!
on August 11, 2011 at 10:57 AM | Reply thebardonthehill

A young lady I know had a baby last Sunday morning at 3:00 and I got to hold it about 16 hours later. But the sister, an only child until then, hadn’t been looking forward to this at all. However, she melted when she saw her baby sister and is excited about her now. Her emotions before that were all about having to share. 🙂 Thanks for your comments and continue to read my poems.
on August 11, 2011 at 4:34 PM | Reply Pervagus

Totally agreed. As the elder of two siblings, I know exactly what you write about. Not that I would do things differently if I had two kids though. I’ll echo, Great title and last line!
on June 26, 2012 at 4:26 PM | Reply Retakes (6) by Dennis Lange « The Bard on the Hill

[…] https://thebardonthehill.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/to-have-and-halve-not-by-dennis-lange/ […]
on June 28, 2012 at 7:53 PM | Reply Lindy Lee

The main benefit to old age? Being alive to gripe about it.
“To Have and Halve Not” is very entertaining. Thank you…
- on June 28, 2012 at 10:12 PM | Reply thebardonthehill
  
  Thanks. It’s like being able to tell the younger generation that you had to walk 5 miles to school into a freezing wind both ways. 🙂
on June 29, 2012 at 9:03 PM | Reply sandraconner

Good one, Dennis. In my personal case, my one sister and I were blessed with a very close, loving relationship — virtually no fights or squabbles. But the day I got left alone with an aunt and a lot of phone calls and whispering I didn’t understand (the day my sister was born), you wouldn’t have thought that would be the outcome. Knowing only that my mom wasn’t available to me for an extended period of time — because she was “getting” my sister — I decided I didn’t like the sister at all and even told my dad clearly that I did not even like her name.
- on June 30, 2012 at 6:12 PM | Reply thebardonthehill
  
  I’m glad it worked out! Thanks for reading.