A prayer for the children

A PRAYER FOR THE CHILDREN

We pray for the children
       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 are born in places where we wouldn't be caught dead,
       who never go to the circus,
       who live in an X-rated world

We pray for children
       who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,
       who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money

And we pray for those
     who never get dessert,
       who have no safe blanket to drag behind them,
       who watch their parents watch them die,
       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 children
       who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,
       who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food,
       who like ghost stories,
       who shove dirty clothes under the bed,
       who never rinse out the tub,
       who get visits from the tooth fairy,
       who don't like to be kissed in front of the carpool,
       who squirm in church and scream in the phone,
       whose tears we sometimes laugh at and
       whose smiles can make us cry

And we pray for those
       whose nightmares come in the daytime,
       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,
       who 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