Before you know compassion,
you must know the sting
of indifference
and it is perhaps for this reason
that children were built
with brains that drive their emotions
erratically like a car
without brakes
so when you hear your own
being pelted
with the easy cruelty
that slides back and forth
at this age
you just hope they are not
plotting revenge
but instead
letting their synapses
weld this memory
into a promise
when it is my turn
to be powerful,
I will be kind.