A Child Is Worth It

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A child lies in a hospital bed,

half-formed figures slouch at his bedside,

pouring tardy tears.

He cannot know. His world is the air

he is quietly taking in.

At the door a doctor who means only kindness

stares at the guilty weepers.

Too late, he says.

Five thousand miles away, a man

shoots a direct line to the child

who must somehow be aware.

The man’s tears are dollars and medicine,

the bones of healing.

The doctor smiles.

He steps over the sobbing figures.

Work to do, and in his sleep the child smiles.

 

Godfrey Green is a former librarian, currently teaching and being a friend to children in New York and Ghana. He is also teaching English to ESL adults. He has published two books for poetry, Toward Freedom and Singing on Subways.

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