In the days of orphan riders...

Up to 200,000 orphans rode the orphan trains�

 

I stand here alone… unwanted… discarded… afraid…

So hungry for food… for shelter... for kind words…

No parent to defend me… seek me… say they love me…

No one to hold me or kiss me goodnight… not me…

I don’t dream anymore… at least I can’t remember any…

Here in New York… dirty and unsure… on the streets…

I’ll never see my home again… what brief time it was…

Children like me… scattered… they gather us like dogs…

Place us on trains… dirty... noisy… terrified…

Alone with a hundred others like me…

Staring into each others’ eyes…

Hoping to find a friend in these lonely moments…

Other “dirty waifs” like myself…

We are looked at as less than human…

High society people say we got what we deserved…

We were poor “because we wished it…”

Our folks lazy or cursed or heavy drinkers…

I travel a thousand miles… little sleep… no rest…

Stop on stop off… stand before ladies and gents…

Stuck with their fingers… talked about but never talked to…

They check my teeth.. feel my chest… my arms…

Wanting me not as a child.. not a blessed son or daughter…

But as hands to help… to milk and mend and move…
A stranger takes my hand… a lady…

Saying she will be my mother… I nod and walk with her…

Glancing back at nameless faces… pushed back on the train cars…

No one wanting them… not even for work…

I can wish that she will care for me… dream that she will love me…

But I told her my name… and she only ever calls me “boy…”

God, please promise me a warm bed… something good to eat…

And maybe… if I’m good… a future too…

Is that too much to ask?

 

Author's Note

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress..." ~ James 1:27

From 1854 to 1929, orphan trains from New York "placed out" 150,000 to 200,000 destitute children, mainly to homes in the farming communities of the Midwest. Some of these children, young infants to age 15, were orphans. Many were homeless street kids, and others were given-up by parents unable to provide for their well-being. Some had been abandoned by their families, were runaways, or had been removed from abusive homes. Children on the orphan trains came from the street gangs and orphan asylums of the city.

During the orphan train trip, children usually lined up in front of prospective takers on a platform or at a meeting hall. They were encouraged to look and act their best. Inspection sometimes involved poking and prodding; an attempt to ascertain their value as workers on farms or in local shops and businesses. Children that were not selected returned to the train to travel on to another stop.

It is estimated that around 2 million Americans are descendents of an orphan train rider.

Reviews

[emmajoy]

What a stupendous piece of writing set in your own unique way .. the theme is tragic, heart-breaking yet somehow, you give those children haloes by way of your wording.

No parent to defend me� seek me� say they love me�
No one to hold me or kiss me goodnight� not me�
I don't dream anymore�

So sad and, truth .. we can't forget that history, ever.

History has been wicked-evil to people of all ages but the thought of small children being treated like this is inconceivable - sent from their families, bewildered, mourning the break from parents, treated like animals, abused in every way.

A similar thing happened here in the UK .. children sent away during WW2 .. many to fine homes/people, but equally many went to abusive people who used them as slave and sexual labour. Many children were lied to, told their parents were killed in the war. How cruel is that.

How cruel the world has been and is to wee defenceless angels. Craig, thank you for writing this incredible reminder ..

[We are young.]

This was so sad, the last line really got me "is that too much to ask?"

[Ladysue]

An amazing write. It is so sad that there is this kind of pain in the world.

[Ru Banerjee]

What a brilliant thought, a stunning execution! Gruesome days of some forgotten past come alive, walk, breathe, show us the throbbing pain, the reality and the distress in such powerful and intense words woven by the poet! Awesome work again Craig!! STANDING OVATION from another one of your fans!
Keep up the wonderful work,
Ru.

[Salvatore Buttaci]

The plight of the orphan has improved greatly, but even in America there are many homeless orphans fending for themselves on dangerous streets. Your poem evokes emotion from your readers.

[Fran Marie]

Such a sad piece on the orphan children/homeless et al, your poem tells of so many people

hurting and in pain with well written words~Powerful piece of writing expressed so well!

[Dezaraye]

This is so, so sad. I watched a Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman episode about Orphan Trains that was amazingly well done.

This poem is very affective and touching. It's also so sad and heartbreaking. So often, we ignore the ugliness in the world, which causes us to do nothing about it. We need to see these things to prevent them from happening again in the future and to resolve the issues still going on today.

[Emily B]

slavery of one kind or another has always existed . . . brilliant of you to remind us

[Sean M. Addams]

i think everyone covered the great parts of this piece but i will agree that this is a beautifully done piece... liked this alot... overall i thought this was a very impressive write... nice job!

[Raja]

Your poem made me think the harsh realities of life that we sometimes forgot to look at. It is real and full of thought-provoking stuffs. It is loud in discreet search for true enthem that floats in the nonchalance of lives ever born.

I like it very much.

Thank you.

Raja.

[Nancy Lee Shrader]

Now this is what I call poetry. So sad and yet beautiful.