| We pray for children |
Who sneak Popsicles before supper
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Who erase holes in math work books
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Who can never find their shoes.
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| We pray for those |
Who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire
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Who can't bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers
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Who never 'counted potatoes'
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Who were born in places we wouldn't be caught dead
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Who never go to the circus
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Who live in an X-rated world.
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| We pray for children |
Who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions
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Who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money.
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| We pray for those |
Who never get dessert
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Who have no safe blanket to drag behind them
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Who watch their parents watch them die
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Who can't find any bread to steal
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Who don't have any rooms to clean up
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Whose pictures aren't on anybody's refrigerator
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And whose monsters are real.
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| We pray for children |
Who spend all their allowance before Tuesday
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Who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their
food
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Who like ghost stories
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Who shove dirty clothes under the bed and never rinse out
the tub
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Who get visits from the tooth fairy
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Who don't like to be kissed in front of the car pool
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Whose tears we sometimes laugh at and whose smiles can make
us cry.
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| We pray for those |
Whose nightmares come in the daytime
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Who will eat anything
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Who have never seen a dentist
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Who aren't spoiled by anything
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Who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep
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Who live and move but have no being.
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| We pray for children |
Who want to be carried and for those who must
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For those we never give up on and for those who will never
get a second chance
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For those we smother and for those who will grab the hand of
anybody kind enough to offer it.
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We pray for all children.
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All children and our own.
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