Abandoned No More

For Steven

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a meeting where they discuss you

Like you aren’t sitting there

Your fate decided

Again and again

 

You a boy

Clearly understanding what they believe

you cannot comprehend

Quietly, charmingly submitting to your new placement

Again and again

 

You find your self trying

For a while

“Is this my home?”

“Is this where I belong?”

Soon the honeymoon is over. You rebel.

Again rejected. Sent away.

Your test proven

 

Thirty Five homes

One after another in your short years

You have seen more than many men

You have experienced more grief and rejection

Than an army of men

You a boy-man

 

Teachable, yet hardened by life’s bitterness

Valiant, yet somehow weakened

by the burden of abandonment

Charming and smart

Oh much smarter than you let on

You will keep that secret to yourself

Using your wisdom to gain emotional freedom

Again and Again

 

Sitting in that meeting

Across the table from those that knew you

only by reports written about you

Black and White introduction

To a boy

A new job

A boy to write more reports about

 

I remember the day your were born into my heart

I handed you a cookie

You searched my face

I let you

 

I wrote reports about you, privately crying

silently praying for you

As you struggled

I listened

 

Then the unexpected

You finally said

“Mother”

Author's Note

While working as a youth mentor I met and fell in love with a 14 year old boy. Abandoned at a daycare by his birth mother, he was placed in foster care and later adopted by a family that rejected the adoption after 4 years. His life was again in the hands of the state. His quest for home, acceptance and unconditional love of a mother was found in me. His 36th home.

Reviews

[Destructive Impulse]

This is so sad yet wonderful.

[Tate Morgan]

God the tears I feel welling up over the thought of such injustice and yet the world still brings children into it to unfit parents it shames us

[Shellie]

As a former foster child myself, the gratitude in doing well never seems to be enough.

The poignancy of this is overwhelming and the incredible but sufferable journey this boy made... true a boyman. For how can you call someone so young and who has been through more than an adult 'a child' it seems wrong. This is excellent.

[Ron]

Like the wretchedness etched in this poem. Like the huge chance taken in fostering what was a client. Amazed and relieved it worked well. If it hadn't? God knows what damage! And to who? Written in the soul this poem. Yossi does spot good ones.

[Abigail T]

So sad then so overwhelmingly happy. You really take the reader on a journey and make them feel every aspect of the story, and of this boy - at least, that's how I felt! Such honesty and pure emotion flows from this poem beautifully. Wonderful!

[Liza]

this is so moving
i had to stop myself from tearing
its a tragic epidemic - babies growing up without their birth parents
treated like shelter animals
i can't even bear seeing shelter animals
everyone trying to find a home
its hard for them to trust
when all they knew to do was to survive
shut emotions off - no one there to nurture them...

[Kimberly]

This is the most heartbreaking and beautiful thing I've read in a while. It was beatifully rendered and full of emotion. Thank you for such a personal poem.

[Cyanthinnis]

A most touching and heartfelt poem indeed. Wonderfully expressed and well written. I hope to read more as lovely.

[Matthew Kult]

Beautiful. There will be many warm places for you in the next life.

Regards,

Matthew

[Bubo]

Oh..........this bought tears to my eyes, what a very wonderful thing to have done! I have heard children once past 6 years old rarely get adopted, and how sad when s many need good loving homes to thrive in, you write a very beautiful, sad tale of a young life thrown around, and finally he finds someone who has love, faith and belief in this young boy..........love it.