We Are Responsible For Our Little Citizens

 We Are Responsible 
Ina Hughes
 

We are responsible for children
Who put chocolate fingers everywhere
Who like to be tickled
Who stomp in puddles and ruin their new pants
Who sneak popsicles before dinner
Who erase holes in their math workbooks
Who can never find their shoes
But we are also responsible for those
Who stare at photographers from behind broken windows
Who can’t bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers
Who are born in places we would not be caught dead
Who live in an X-rated world
We are responsible for children
Who bring us sticky fingers and fistfuls of dandelions
Who sleep with the dog, and bury goldfish
Who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money
Who cover themselves with band aids and sing off key
Who squeeze toothpaste all over the sink
But we are also responsible for those
Who never get desert
Who have no safe blanket to drag behind them
Who watch their parents watch them suffer
Who can’t find any bread to steal
Who don’t have rooms to clean
Whose pictures aren’t on anybody’s dresser
Whose monsters are real
We are responsible for children
Who spend all their allowance before Tuesday
Who throw tantrums in the grocery store and who pick at their food
Who like ghost stories
Who shove dirty clothing under the bed, and never rinse out the tub
Who get visits from the tooth fairy
Who don’t like o be kissed in front of the carpool
Who squirm in church and scream on the phone
Who’s tears sometimes make us laugh and who’s smiles can make us cry
And we are responsible for those
Whose nightmares come in the daytime
Who will eat anything
Who have never seen a dentist
Who aren’t spoiled by anybody
Who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep
Who live and move, but have no being
We are responsible
For children who want to be carried…and those who must
For those we never give up on…and for those who don’t get a second chance
For those we smother…and for those who will grab the hand
Of anybody kind enough to offer it