• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Debra Pascali-Bonaro

Awaken Your Inner Wisdom

  • ABOUT
    • ABOUT DEBRA
    • START HERE
    • OUR TEAM
    • PRAISE
    • GIVE BACK
  • SCHEDULE
    • ALL EVENTS
    • DONA DOULA WORKSHOPS
      • BIRTH DOULA WORKSHOPS
      • POSTPARTUM DOULA WORKSHOPS
    • RETREATS
      • EAT PRAY DOULA
      • PRENATAL EDUCATION
    • ADVANCED SKILLS WORKSHOPS
    • CONFERENCES
    • INVITE DEBRA TO SPEAK
    • DOULA SCHOLARSHIPS
  • ONLINE DOULA TRAINING
  • CHILDBIRTH EDUCATION
  • PRODUCTS
    • FILMS
      • EDUCATIONAL LICENSE
    • BOOKS
    • COACHING
    • PRODUCTS WE LOVE
  • BLOG
    • ORGASMIC BIRTH
    • BIRTH STORIES
      • Share your Story
    • PLEASURE
    • DOULAS
    • PARENTING
    • INNER WISDOM
  • CONTACT

We Pray for Children by Ina Hughes (poem)

We Pray for Children poem by Ina Hughes is part of Jill Wodnick’s Social Determinants on Birth article published on this site.

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

And we pray for those
Who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire,
Who can’t bound down the street in new sneakers,
Who never “counted potatoes,”
Who are born in places we wouldn’t be caught dead in,
Who never go to the circus,
Who live in an X-rated world.

We pray for children
Who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,
Who sleep with the cat and bury goldfish,
Who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money,
Who squeeze toothpaste all over the sink,
Who slurp their soup.

And we pray for those
Who never get dessert,
Who have no safe blanket to drag behind them,
Who can’t find any bread to steal,
Who don’t have any rooms to clean up,
Whose pictures aren’t on anybody’s dresser,
Whose monsters are real.

We pray for children
Who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,
Who throw tantrums in the grocery store and pick at their food,
Who like ghost stories,
Who shove dirty clothes under the bed,
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 are never spoiled by anyone,
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 never get a second chance,
For those we smother.
And for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind
enough to offer it.

We pray for children. Amen.

Tweet
Pin
Tweet
Share17
17 Shares

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Cyndi Dillon McKenzie says

    June 1, 2014 at 8:46 pm

    Must read and pray for all children.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Solve : *
20 − 3 =


Footer

Site by The Design Valley

Categories

  • Awaken Your Inner Wisdom
  • Birth Stories
  • Country of the Month
  • Do Something
  • Doulas
  • In Your Voice
  • Orgasmic Birthing
  • Pleasurable Life
  • Uncategorized

RSS Debra Pascali-Bonaro Blog RSS

  • Doula’s Role in creating Birth Equity
  • Graziella’s Kitchen
  • DONA Doula Certification
  • The Doula Quiz: Find out whether you have what it takes
  • How Does Virtual Doula Training work?

Sunken Treasure Publishing LLC © 2021 · Key birth photography by Sweet Births © 2014 · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Site Cookies