We pray for children
who put chocolate fingers everywhere
Who like to be tickled
Who stomp in puddles and ruin their pants
Who sneak popsicles before supper
Who erase holes in math workbooks
Who can never find their shoes
And we pray for those
who stare at photographers
from behind barbed wire
Who can't bound down the street
in a new pair of sneakers
Who never "counted potatoes"
who were born in places
where we wouldn't be caught dead
Who never go to the circus
Who live in a X-rated world.
We pray for children
who bring us sticky kisses
and handfuls of dandelions
Who "sleep with the dog"
and "bury goldfish"
Who "hug us in a hurry
and forget their lunch money"
Who cover themselves with Band-aids
and sing off-key
Who squeeze toothpaste all over the sink.
And we pray for those
who never get dessert
who have no safe blanket
to drag behind them
Who can't find any bread to steal
Who don't have any room to clean up
Whose pictures aren't on anybody's dresser
Whose monsters are real.
We pray for children
who spend all their allowance before Tuesday
Who throw tantrums in grocery store
and pick at their food
Who like ghost stories
Who shove dirty clothes under the bed
who get visits from the tooth fairy
who don't like to be kissed
in front of the car pool
Who squirm in church or temple
and scream in the phone
Whose tears we sometimes laugh at
and whose smiles can make us cry.
And we pray for children
whose nightmares come in the daytime
who will never hear anything
Who have never seen a dentist
who aren't spoiled by anybody
Who go to bed hungry
and cry themselves to sleep
Who live and move and have no being.
We pray for children
who want to be carried
and for those you must
For those we never give up on and
for those who don't get a second chance
For those we smother...
and for those who will grab the hand
of anybody kind enough to offer it.
Tisa
Copyright © 1999-2000 Tisa_. All Rights Reserved
December 26, 2000.
