"If" -- a Saturday Challenge poem

If;
If our feet didn't heed 
Our nose's lead 

If mud puddles were pretty, and Mom was nice 
And dogs took baths in clean water 
Mom wouldn't have spanked me that day 
She wouldn't have known 
Or wouldn't have cared
That I was muddy that day, very  

If glass bottles would sink in the stream 
Or snow wouldn't melt so bloody fast
My spring day would have been dreary
What does one learn sailing make believe
We must learn life's lessons
By work and toil, corrections and admonitions 

If we didn't grow up, and all resources were free
And adults didn't mess with our having fun
We could play forever unfettered 
But we can't be that way
So God has the next best plan for us
Grow old gracefully, live childhood once more
 _ _ _ _ _

 Photo and Poem Copyright,
© 2016 Jimmiehov, All Rights Reserved

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[Mom was nice, she never spanked me in my life.  She did chase me with a real broom one day though.  We've been out of pocket all week, fun and family with KP, Mrs. Jim and me in Louisiana for KP's spring break.  There we visited relatives and went to a funeral, enjoyed it all.  (link).]

I'm linked with "Outlawyer" at The Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, Weekend Mini! (link)
Her instructions are "Take a poem written by someone else.  ... you can think of your source poem as you write ... your life experience, the imagery that speaks to you, your view of the world."

I used this poem as my 'source poem:'

If
by E.E. Cummings, 
http://hellopoetry.com/poem/1597/if/

If freckles were lovely, and day was night,
And measles were nice and a lie warn’t a lie,
Life would be delight,—
But things couldn’t go right
For in such a sad plight
I wouldn’t be I.

If earth was heaven and now was hence,
And past was present, and false was true,
There might be some sense
But I’d be in suspense
For on such a pretense
You wouldn’t be you.

If fear was plucky, and globes were square,
And dirt was cleanly and tears were glee
Things would seem fair,—
Yet they’d all despair,
For if here was there
We wouldn’t be we.