"...Same As Mine"

Words from Richard Stearn's "The Hole in our Gospel; Prologue", 2010.

A deadly virus

pandemic

on ground zero

stalked its victims in the dark for decades

until that moment

A child 

orphaned

as no child should be

left to raise his younger brothers

to care

to feed

to love

no one to teach them how to become men

Alone.

To see, smell, and touch the pain of the poor

such things had faces.

Told through tears,

a treasured book

with gold gilt pages

Same as mine.

"...Jesus loves the children."