Pray for the Children

We pray for the children who put
chocolate fingers everywhere
Who like to be tickled
Who stomp in mud puddles and
ruin their new pants
Who sneak Popsicles before supper
Who erase holes in their Math workbooks
Who can never find their shoes

And we pray for those who stare at
photographers from behind barbed wire
Who've never squeaked across the
floor in new sneakers
Who never "counted potatoes"
Who are born in places 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 sticky kisses
and fistfuls of dandelions
Who sleep with the dog and bury goldfish
Who hug us in a hurry and
forget their lunch money
Who cover themselves with Band-Aids
and sing off-key
Who squeeze toothpaste all over the sink
Who slurp their soup

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 anyone's dressers
Whose monsters are real

We pray for children who spend all their allowance before Tuesday
Who throw tantrums in the grocery store
Who pick at their food
Who like ghost stories
Who shove dirty cloths under the bed
and never rinse out the tub
Who get visits from the Tooth Fairy
Who don't like to be kissed in
front of the car pool
Who squirm in church and scream on 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
For those we never give up on
And for those who don't get a chance
For those we smother
And for those who will grab the
hand of anybody kind enough to offer

~~~Author Unknown~~~