Pacify

Teenage boy lying asleep on a Toronto sidewalk
over a warm air grate
at 7 in the morning
people with briefcases & fresh shirts
stepping neatly around
his ragged pouch & filthy pants


baby's pacifier tucked in his mouth Wow
Is it a Canadian thing?

So strange All day I think

how most boys that age
wouldn't be caught dead....


What brought him to a chilly sidewalk
for the night?
Where is his mother?

How many times all mothers fail

to be the ones our sons might need

please someone

protect him on behalf of


the family

(for everyone's sake)

we need to be *


Naomi Shihab Nye


Currently I'm reading Ms Nye's book "Honeybee", poems and what I would call essays. This one caught my eye about the need for us to protect kids. Maybe it's just where I am right now but we/I need to do better about looking out for each other. Beautiful day outside, go enjoy.