FOR THE CHILD

For the Child… who has learned to live in a haze

Where only combat monsters and skinny cattle graze

For the Child… hounded by terror, frozen in place and so tense

Clinging to a memory of frayed hope and worn innocence

For the Child with the mangled limbs and a crippled future

To the one whose cuts are too deep for a political suture

Hush Child … Love calms

For the Child… who has been plundered and broken

Bruised and battered so long he cannot be woken

For the Child… whose answer to pain

Is to chew on a dry piece of sugar cane

For the Child… whose choice it wasn’t to stay pure

Who hears whispers of safety but is unsure

Heal Child … Love soothes

For the child… who was never weanedNor runny nose by a mother cleaned

For the Child… gasping for breath

Bare seconds after making it to earth

For the Child… whose thoughts never went beyond dingy halls

Caressed by pain, lack, an empty bowl and cracked walls

Wake Child … Love croons

For the Child… who, through war and disease, lost it all

And the one who, even in his dreams, never had at all

For the Child... whose wounds fester

Breaking, spreading… while the flies pester

For the Child... whose long struggle with ringworm

Can be quelled… without a major brainstorm

Stay Child … Love waits

For the Child… whose empty gaze stays

On distant hills bathed by perfect raysFor the Child… the product of a night’s careless liaison

A vacant smile, a bleak future and a darkened horizon

For the Child… who, through cruelty and mental chains

Is bound to revenge, lies and ill-gotten gains

Walk Child … Love leads

For the Child… who marked a cheerless first birthday

Whose tenth now marks a decade of abuse and decay

For the Child… the seed and product of a nameless soldier

Violence and drugs buried in another’s virgin daughter

For the Child… who halfway became an aborted dream,

So akin to a shattered red bowl in the midst of a misfired kiln

Sleep Child … Love holds

For the Child… who, through hawking, learned basic math

While his mate on the other fence enjoys a bubble bath

For the Child... who tastes dust off the streets of the Sahel Savannah

To the one longing for a taste of rain in the heart of the hot Sahara

For the Child... who’d never be a Doctor, Lawyer, Teacher, or Preacher

To the one who would become a Hustler, Robber, or Prankster

Dance Child … Love sings

For the Child… whose need for love

Can be met from across, not just above

For the Child… who for suffering wears a frown

But for the promise, someday will wear a crown

For the Child… whose face or name I know not

The one who roams in my aching heart a lot

Come Child … Love Calls

For the Child

Whose ears strain for music

Whose lips yearn for a kiss

Whose eyes peer for light

Whose skin longs for touch

Whose soul is lost to war

Hush… Hear… Heal…

A perfect Love knows your story.

Rest… in the arms of Glory.