I know this is long, but please read it
We pray for children
Who put chocolate fingers everywhere
Who like to be tickled
Who stop in puddles and ruin their new pants
Who sneak Popsicles before supper
Who erase holes in math workbooks
Who can never find their shoes
Andy we pray for those
Who stare at photographs 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 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 dog and bury the 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 got 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 anybody’s dresser
Whose monsters are real
We pray for children
Who spend 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
And never rinse out the tub
Who get visits from the tooth fairy
Who don’t like to be kissed in front of the carpool
Who squirm in church and scream in 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 the 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
Fir those we smother
And for those who will grab the hand on anybody
Kind enough to offer
Who put chocolate fingers everywhere
Who like to be tickled
Who stop in puddles and ruin their new pants
Who sneak Popsicles before supper
Who erase holes in math workbooks
Who can never find their shoes
Andy we pray for those
Who stare at photographs 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 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 dog and bury the 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 got 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 anybody’s dresser
Whose monsters are real
We pray for children
Who spend 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
And never rinse out the tub
Who get visits from the tooth fairy
Who don’t like to be kissed in front of the carpool
Who squirm in church and scream in 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 the 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
Fir those we smother
And for those who will grab the hand on anybody
Kind enough to offer