start and end with work
how ungodly my Sunday
blessings everywhere
painted face friends grin
i enjoy two thirds of joy
my kids everywhere
from Iraq, Burma
Eritrea, refugees
whose faces aren’t here
i guide them with words
never as harsh as a mom
because they’ve suffered
my girls? only joy
bestowed on Americans
with rich white privilege
no way to explain
my work-fair-filled church-less day
may God bless us all
with thousands of words
one hundred twenty letters
high schoolers shocked me
today? long boarding
last year? three mile water walk
in refugee camp
fathers left for dead
or years without their mothers
fear crossing borders
Somali warlords
Thai school beatings, civil war
their innocence lost
dreams to bring back peace
to a country they escaped
(and to pass my class)
whirlwind of worlds
sit in six columns, five rows
can i reach them all?
free education
earned with a blood-torn tear trail
worth every penny
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