Family

Family is,
heaven sent from our father above,
bonded by the power of love.
No matter what family has each others back,
when push comes to shove.

Family is,
understanding, never demanding,
all for one and one for all,
I will never leave you alone standing.

Family is,
one in itself, my love is your love,
your pain is my pain, my wealth is your wealth,
I promise to never leave you by yourself.

Family is,
the strongest team, the strongest unit;
if love could be visualized,
family would be the blue print.

Family is,
forgiveness and patience,
it's sweeter than the sweetest fragrance,
the power of family is a reflection of Gods compassion and magnificence.

Family is,
never turning our back, and never shames,
lend my helping hand and not a finger pointing the blame.

No matter what a family bond can never be broken,
even through a nuclear explosion,
if one of us lives we all live.
Forever to eternity,
we are family, my father, my mother, my sisters and me.

Antony Smith


In this poem, the author describes what his family is like and how he feels about his family. Through each stanza, he unravels a little more facts about his family and how much they mean to him.

From the poem, we can tell that the author’s family goes through thick and thin together. They have ‘each others back’ no matter what happens, and they would never leave one another standing alone. This is emphasized by the fact that the author wrote about how a family would never abandon their members in the first, second and third stanza. (First stanza: ‘No matter what family has each others back’; Second Stanza: ‘I will never leave you alone standing’; Third Stanza: ‘I promise to never leave you by yourself’) Hence, we can tell that the author’s family would be there for one another, whether it is the good times or the bad times. They would stand together, through it all.

The author’s family is also very strong. This is evident from the fact that the author can say with confidence that his ‘family bond can never be broken, even through a nuclear explosion’. He knows that they are and will always be a family ‘forever to eternity’. This shows that the author’s family ties are so strong that no matter what happens, they will always be together and that nothing can separate them.

We can also tell that the author’s family is filled with love. The author’s family is ‘bonded by the power of love’, ‘understanding, never demanding’ and there is ‘forgiveness and patience’. The author states that ‘if love could be visualized, [his] family would be the blueprint’. This shows that there is much love in the author’s family, as without love, all these would not be possible. They would also not be a strong family and go through thick and thin together as they would not see the point in doing so. Hence, I can tell that the author’s family is filled with love.

I feel that love is the most important and most essential thing to have in a family. This is because with love, everything else comes under it. With love, family members would be able to understand one another, forgive one another and be patient with one another. With love, family members would be able to stand together. They would have a reason for doing so-because they loved one another. A family would be nothing without love.

However, in Jonas’s community and family, love does not exist. When Jonas asked his parents whether they loved him, they found it awkward and told him that the word love was very generalized and it was ‘so meaningless that [it became] almost obsolete’. Jonas’s parents did not truly understand what love was, they did not know how meaningful it was. Although, they did show care and concern for each other and for their children, they only did so because they were supposed to do and not out of love. They were numb to the feeling of love and thus, relationships and bonds could not be built. If something happened to one of the family members one day, they would not feel the pain. This can be proven from the fact that although Gabe had stayed with the family for quite some time, Father could still release him without feeling any emotions, let alone pain, Also, in Jonas’s community, when the adults became old, they would go to the House of the old where their children would forget about them. If love existed in a family, such things would not happen. Hence, I feel that love is vital in a family as without love, having a family would be nothing.