I come back to them
\nagain and again.
\nEyes stare fixedly out the window
\nwrapped in their solitudes.
\nI want to know their names.
\nA pole star for each one.
\nThe little girls pretty in their dresses.
\nThe boys covered with grass stains
\nand mud.
\nWhy do I wish their mothers
\nwere waving at them?
\nTheir fathers taking time from work
\nto spend an hour on the playground?<\/p>\n
Why should I care
\nthat children get lost
\nand tangled in the years?
\nThat all of us get denied growing up.
\nIt was what we wanted then.
\nI\u2019m a big boy, the little boy bragged.
\nI\u2019m a mama, said the girl
\nas she hugged her doll.
\nThe years picked us up.
\nWe changed and loved the change
\nas we grew taller,
\nfaster,
\nlearned to read,
\nwent off by ourselves and explored.<\/p>\n
Life happened.
\nThe sky was blue every day.
\nThe rain soaked our clothes.
\nOur feet smelled of mud and grass.
\nAnd we were never angry for long.
\nSo hungry we could not cry.
\nHurt so bad we did not heal.<\/p>\n
But the poetess knows,
\nwho looks from the window now,
\nshe has a broken wing.
\nThe man who gets outside
\nin his chair
\nno longer looks up,
\nunable to see.
\nGray-haired friends share lunch
\nand forget who they are,
\nlike lights blinking on and off,
\nand the children that they were
\nwant to go home.
\nWant Mama to come.<\/p>\n
Look outside for their boyfriends
\nand girlfriends,
\nwondering if the pet\u2019s been watered.
\nAnd why,
\nsitting so still,
\nthey can not breathe
\nwhen they used to run everywhere.
\nAs a visitor,
\nI dare not tell them
\nwhere the class is going.
\nWhy the bell never rings
\nto let them leave.
\nThat they are still beautiful,
\nand,
\nI\u2019m sure,
\nsomeone\u2019s waiting for them
\nat the door.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I come back to them again and again. Eyes stare fixedly out the window wrapped in their solitudes. I want to know their names. A…<\/p>\n