We pray for children
who leave chocolate fingerprints,
who love to be tickled,
who jump in puddles and ruin their new pants,
who steal cookies before dinner,
who poke holes in the eraser,
who can never find their shoes.
And we pray for those
who stare at the world from behind barbed wire,
who don't skip down the street in new sneakers,
who never learned to count beans,
who were born in places we would not go even dead,
who never go to the circus,
who live in a world of last class.
We pray for children
who give us sticky kisses and fistfuls of licorice,
who sleep with the dog and bury the goldfish,
who squeeze us in a rush and forget lunch money,
who are always covered with bandages and sing off-key,
who squeeze toothpaste all over the sink,
who slurp their soup.
And we pray for those
who never eat dessert,
who have no blanket to drag around,
who watch their parents while their parents watch them die,
who can't find bread to steal,
who have no room to mess up,
whose pictures aren't on anyone's mantle,
whose monsters are real monsters.
We pray for children
who have spent their allowance by Tuesday,
who throw tantrums at the supermarket and eat only what they want,
who love ghost stories,
who throw dirty clothes under the bed and never rinse the tub,
who wait for the tooth fairy when they lose a tooth,
who don't want to be kissed in front of their schoolmates,
who squirm through church and yell on the phone,
whose tears sometimes make us smile and whose smiles can make us cry.
And we pray for those
who have nightmares even in daylight,
who would eat anything,
who have never seen a dentist,
who no one spoils,
who go to bed hungry and fall asleep crying,
who live and move,
but have no life.
We pray for children
who want to be carried
and for those who must be carried by force,
for those with whom we would never give up
and for those to whom no one gives a second chance,
for those we smother with attention...
and for those who will grasp the hand that reaches toward them.
Ina Hughes "A Prayer for Children"
from a Children's Defense Fund pamphlet