Here come the children who fell through the cracks;
Here come the whiz kids who went off the tracks,
In between sitters and saccharine snacks.
How will they pay us for being so lax,
Now they’ve come out to play?
Here come the babes that we lost in the wood,
Missing and miserable, misunderstood;
We did what we had to but not what we could;
It’s no use to say that we meant it for good.
Look at them, my how they’ve grown!
We are the pilgrims who went the wrong way,
Faithless and spent at the end of the day,
All of our visions befuddled and gray,
Plenty of learning and nothing to say,
Shining our light from the mud.
Here come the children who fell through the cracks,
Brooding in solitude, hunting in packs,
Showing up just when we’ve all turned our backs:
So many angles for launching attacks!
Now they’ve come out to play.
I'm one of those kids who fell through the cracks and was everybody's punching bag, but I don't have enough stamina to get revenge.
ReplyDelete"Missing and miserable, misunderstood;" - the left behinds in the world. So long as they come out to play constructively, we shall all play well together.
ReplyDeleteboy this brings back memories, not just of myself, but the work i used to do with at-risk youth. so many tragic stories... too many tragic stories, enough to rip your heart out and stomp it to death on a daily basis. so true my friend, so true
ReplyDeleteHere come the children .. ready or not. The future these children, love them, teach them well. Great writing.
ReplyDelete"Here come the children who fell through the cracks,
ReplyDeleteBrooding in solitude, hunting in packs"
These lines painted a picture in my head that looks a lot like a melding between Children of the Corn and Dangerous Minds.
On the sadder (and more realistic) side, it is heartbreaking what happens to those who no one seems to care for.
Yes indeed. And then we try to fix things at the wrong end.
ReplyDeleteYes, it all comes back to haunt us if we don't hold them up from those cracks. It's sad because I know it's too true and too many.
ReplyDeletethe rhyme and meter make this all the more powerful ~
ReplyDeleteThis is poignant and thought-provoking poem, Graham. It's sad to see children fall through the cracks, usually through no fault of their own.
ReplyDelete