You need to know.

There are things you need to know my child,
things you need to know.

What you want in your life,
_________what makes you cry, what makes you laugh.

There are things you need to know my child,
that I cannot teach to you.

What you choose to believe,
_________how to choose who to trust, and who to love.

There are things you need to teach me, my child,
for I have forgotten them.

When it is time to forget,
_________when it is time to forgive, when it is time to forsake.

Child, I tell you these, for I can no longer answer.
Child, I tell you these, for I can henceforth only ask.

Can you find your answers for your self,
_________walk proud and tall, and happy?
Will you embrace the world for what it is,
_________not what you want it to be?

I have no idea. What you needed to know, I taught you.
Now, you need to teach yourself.
And with these final words, my platypus died.