CHILDREN’S DAY
Don’t hate me for who I am.
Don’t hit me or shove me around,
Don’t make me beg for alms today,
Don’t kick my blossoming dreams to ground.
Don’t stick me to walls with the MISSING sign,
Don’t nip me in the bud for your gains,
Don’t rape me. Don’t kill me.
Don’t trick me into living with so many pains.
Don’t treat me like dirt and without respect,
Don’t cheat me and abuse my innocence,
Don’t light my unexplored land on fire,
Don’t teach me to see with shallow offense.
Don’t stop me from being a hero tomorrow,
Don’t crop out my talents for a petty win,
Don’t preach to me the song of faith,
Don’t leech from me since that’s a sin.
Don’t hide me from the truth that you fear,
Don’t ride me as a vehicle of glee,
Don’t chide me for your mistakes and faults,
Don’t side me away into dark debris.
We are your hope. We are your future.
We are the ones who will change your fate.
We are everything but without your help,
We, the children, have no day to celebrate.
A CHILD IN THE GARDEN
When to the garden of untroubled thought
I came of late, and saw the open door,
And wished again to enter, and explore
The sweet, wild ways with stainless bloom inwrought,
And bowers of innocence with beauty fraught,
It seemed some purer voice must speak before
I dared to tread that garden loved of yore,
That Eden lost unknown and found unsought.
Then just within the gate I saw a child, --
A stranger-child, yet to my heart most dear;
He held his hands to me, and softly smiled
With eyes that knew no shade of sin or fear:
"Come in," he said, "and play awhile with me;"
"I am the little child you used to be."
HAPPY CHILDREN’S DAY !
