May we raise children who love the unloved

May we raise children
who love the unloved things—
the dandelion, the
worms & spiderlings.
Children who sense
the rose needs the thorn

& run into rainswept days
the same way they
turn towards sun…

And when they’re grown &
someone has to speak for those
who have no voice

may they draw upon that
wilder bond,
those days of tending tender things

and be the ones.

Copyright © Nicolette Sowder.
Painting: “Girl with Geese” by Kiriak Konstantinovich Kostandi, 1888.