Knotted hair and bubbling snot
Uncomprehending eyes
One grubby hand clenched
Around a plush rabbit leg
Bunny ears brushing grounded
Forever clinched
Hunger gurgling
Hope is lost
A shoe lace is untied
Dragging in the dirt
Threatening to to trip
Unzipped hoodie blue
The zipper partway up askew
“Where’s your mommy?”
The question echoes across time
The waif is always asking
Who cares for the motherless
No one can reach back
To wipe the nose
To brush the hair
To zip the coat
To stroke the cheek
To say there there
To tie the shoe
To make the snack
It is a timeless moment
It is forever petrified
As understanding grows
In eyes shielded and distrustful
No one cares for the motherless
The motherless no longer cry
Buffeted from one experience to the next
Unresisting
Resistant
What can be done
When the motherless grow into
The only parents they will ever know
Learning finally to care
For the self abandoned
Always haunted by the ghost
Standing there holding
The only thing that’s real
