Craving For Baby Stars

Children growing old and fading
innocence shattered with the curse of abandon
frozen between the first stage 
of a baby's breath and  navel,
desperate to live in  real homes
after years of return and exchange
thrown from garbage to luggage…
foster home mother,
    unit mother,
      nun mother,
        volunteer mother…
what’s a mother?

And I watch broken toddlers come and go
some small, a few tall, others weak, 
most climbing inside tears or curling inside fire
nonetheless,  they are all the same...
they just want to be loved as normal kids;
and I feel how they crave to belong 
in a nest of stars without love’s regret.

I cradle their dreams with healing balm
pouring grains of future's summer dreams,
as I watch them come and go:
these, my “children” fly with kindling hope
playing as if to forget the numbness of dragged pain
steady still in the passing of riddled uncertainty…
   "When will you come back?"
     "Am I pretty or not?"
       "Will my nightmares stop?"

And I watch broken toddlers come and go
changing, always changing my own truth…
Oh there’s so much more I need to accept,
for I can never have one of them as mine 
being single and mostly alone , 
like these children... wanting a family.

.........................
For the toddlers of an orphanage where
I volunteer as a counselor.

...............................
The Poet's Ache Contest / Sponsor: Greg Barden 
Re- submitted 8/1/2017

Copyright © | Year Posted 2014



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Date: 8/12/2017 10:18:00 AM
Congrats on your win Nette!
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Date: 8/11/2017 2:48:00 PM
Congrats on your fine win my friend. You always, always write so beautifully..
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Date: 8/11/2017 10:48:00 AM
Wonderful write Nette, sad truth in these lines, congrats on a fine win!
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Date: 8/11/2017 5:46:00 AM
This is a an experience for life and who can understand these children more than you! Thanks for sharing it. Congrats on the well deserved win. :) Sunita
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Date: 8/11/2017 3:57:00 AM
What an exquisite write and share, I love everything about this, Nette - congratulations on THIRD PLACE!! :-) <3
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Date: 9/24/2014 2:24:00 AM
How tearing can this be and excellently quilled.Well deserving of poem of the day prize.
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Date: 9/9/2014 11:14:00 AM
This is a lovely and touching poem, Nette! Children in orphanages have many problems to deal with; they need lots of love and understanding. I spent a year teaching orphaned boys and they were dying for affection and attention. Congrats on a deserved top finish! // paul
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Date: 9/8/2014 11:00:00 PM
Very moving, so beautifully constructed. Congratulations Nette
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Date: 9/8/2014 9:14:00 AM
I am so moved by your words. I volunteer in a homeless shelter, men and women still asking those same questions. Congratulations.
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Date: 9/7/2014 12:48:00 PM
Loved this from the first reading, Nette... Such a strong voice for your little ones; there are so many of these children all over the world, in poor and rich nations. Their need is desperate. Thank you for writing this. Congratulations for the win.
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Date: 9/7/2014 10:50:00 AM
Nette- Congratulations on your win for this beautifully inspiring poem about little angels. Christine
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Date: 9/7/2014 7:52:00 AM
Congratulations Nette on this truly touching poem.
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Date: 9/7/2014 6:36:00 AM
- Congratulations on your 1st place in the contest - I knew it would win,Nette !!! - Have a nice Sunday - oxox // Anne-Lise :)
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Date: 9/7/2014 2:48:00 AM
Congrats on your win- Prasenjit
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Date: 9/7/2014 2:12:00 AM
Such a deep and emotional write Nette, so well expressed ! You hv such a soft heart, n so well hv u put ur soul into it! Congrats on top place win!
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Date: 9/6/2014 10:12:00 PM
yes yes, I just knew she would love this.
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Date: 9/6/2014 9:17:00 PM
This is just beautiful. Congratulations on your win. God bless you with love and prayers, Gina
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Date: 9/6/2014 7:54:00 PM
There is so much pain in the world...and so much we all need to know....what a poem of depth and despair.... Great writing, dear Nette!
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Date: 9/6/2014 6:07:00 PM
woohooo top of the podium as i predicted - cant think of a better more deserving poem Nette! Hugs Jan xx
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Date: 9/6/2014 4:56:00 PM
Congratulations on your first place win. I loved this write from the first time I read my comments then still apply. God Bless You for the important work you do.
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Date: 9/6/2014 3:24:00 PM
Nette, again I thank you for sharing this, and yourself, with us.
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Date: 9/6/2014 3:23:00 PM
beautifully written, nette, one feels the love for your 'baby stars' (love the title!) this is just the sort of writing I like to see from you: full of startling imagery but infused with real emotion - congrats on your 1st place win! :)
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Date: 9/5/2014 7:51:00 PM
A most sad and enlightening write my friend! CONGRATS on this being chosen as Poem of the Day!!
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Date: 9/5/2014 8:29:00 AM
this is sad and so touching. My heart breaks for the 'broken toddlers' A beautiful, brilliant write this is.
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Date: 9/4/2014 5:58:00 PM
Congrats nette on this touching piece...hugs Tim
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12
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