Polycarp bakes like a bread in the fire

Oh, how the  holy burn

He offers his soul in the smoke of desire

Oh, that the lawless may learn

But what about the little ones?

When they leave us do they run

Through Elysian fields of sun

To the heart of the holy?

 

Aaron was born when Orion was falling

No light to guide him home

His mama was beaten by all her companions

Oh, what a vision to own

He sees his father, ironclad,

Stripped of any power he had

He says, “For me man, no more dads.

All my fathers are trouble.”

 

I’m casting my boat on the water and climbing in

Too much dark work on this shore

These children aren’t bags of kittens to be drowned

And I ain’t gonna watch it anymore

 

Sherri was bought at the price of a needle

Oh, for a little fix

But Daddy supplied more than Mama had asked for

She knows it with every kick

And when she came forth on this earth

Little more than a needle’s worth

Her Mama left after the birth

No warm arms to enfold her

 

© 1997 Pamela Cardullo Ortiz