The Prophecy

Our parents, out of hope
and fear, consulted a saub,
asking: which of their sons
and daughters would grow up
to be good. The oracle told them
only one son and one daughter
would turn out good.

So our parents picked one
likely son and one promising
daughter to focus on
and ignored the rest.
And like any good self-fulfilling
prophecy, it proceeded
to be fulfilled--only,

we children refused our roles.
We each, in turn, became good
and bad, at different times
and to different degrees.
And so the prophecy was fulfilled
to the letter.