We pray for
children who give us sticky kisses,
who hop on rocks
and chase butterflies,
who go barefoot because their parents cannot afford to buy them shoes,
who have shoes, but can never find them.
who never
squeaked across the floor in new sneakers,
who never go to
the circus, who live in an X-rated world
We pray for
children who bring us fistfuls of dandelions and sing off key,
who have goldfish
funerals, build card table forts, who slurp their cereal on purpose,
who put gum in
their hair, put sugar in their milk, who spit toothpaste all over the sink,
who hug us for no
reason, who bless us each night.
And we pray for
those who never get dessert,
who watch their
parents watch them die, who have no safe blanket to drag behind,
who can’t find
any bread to steal, who don’t have any rooms to clean up,
whose pictures
aren’t on anybody's dresser, whose monsters are real.
We pray for those
who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,
who throw
tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food,
who shove dirty clothes under the bed and never rinse out the tub,
who get pennies from the tooth fairy, who don't like to be kissed in front of their friends,
who squirm in
church and scream when you're on the phone,
whose tears we
sometimes laugh at and whose smiles can make us cry.
who will eat
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, but have no being.
We pray for
children who want to be carried, and for those who must.
For those we
never give up on, and for those who don't have a chance.
For those we
smother, and for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to offer.
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