Suffer the Children

Pity for him who suffers from his waste.

Water that flows from the earth

For lack of roots to hold it

And children who are murdered

Before their lives begin.

Who pays his crops to the sun

When the fields are parched by drought

Will mourn the lost water while waiting another rain.

But who shall dis-inter these girls

To love the women they were to become

Or read the legends written beneath their skin?

Those who loved them remember their child’s laughter.

But he whose hate has robbed him of their good

Has yet to weep at night above their graves.

Years roll out and rain shall come again.

But however many girls be brought to sun

Someday

A man will thirst for sleep in his southern night

Seeking his peace where no peace is

And come to mourn these children

Given to the dust.