A PRAYER FOR THE CHILDREN

        We pray for the Children
        who sneak popsicles before supper,
        who erase holes in math workbooks,
        who can never find their shoes.

        And we pray for those
        who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire,
        who can't bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers,
        who never "counted potatoes,"
        who are born in places where we wouldn't be caught dead,
        who never go to the circus,
        who live in an X-rated world.

        We pray for children
        who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,
        who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money.

        And we pray for those
        who never get dessert,
        who have no safe blanket to drag behind them,
        who watch their parents watch them die,
        who can't find any bread to steal,
        who don't have any rooms to clean up,
        whose pictures aren't on anybody's dresser,
        whose monsters are real.

        We pray for children
        who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,
        who throw tantrums in the grocery store
 and pick at their food,
        who like ghost stories, who shove
 dirty clothes under the  bed,
        who never rinse out the tub,
        who get visits from the tooth fairy,
        who don't like to be kissed in front of the carpool,
        who squirm in church or temple and scream in the phone,
       whose tears we  sometimes laugh at and
        whose smiles can make us cry.

        And we pray for those
        whose nightmares come in the daytime,
        who will eat anything,
        who have never seen a dentist,
        who aren't spoiled by anybody,
        who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,
        who live and move, but have no being.

        We pray for children
        who want to be carried and for those who must,
        who we never give up on
        and for those who don't get a second chance.
        For those we smother and . . .
        for those who will grab the hand
        of anybody kind enough to offer it.


        In Memory of........
          Natalie Brooks, student  age 12
          Paige Ann Herring, student age 12
          Stephanie Johnson, student age 12
          Brittany R. Varner, student age 11
          Shannon Wright,   Teacher age 32

  This is in memory of the children and teacher killed in the shooting
on
  Tuesday, March 24, 1998  in  Jonesboro, Arkansas. Please send this on
to
  everyone you know. If this gets to the town of Jonesboro, I'm sure they
will be
   grateful to know that we all care.

Steve Prettyman