loving their children

loving their children

of the parent

By Henry H. Walker

I am in awe
of the love and care
with which adopting parents
can hold their children,

much of life is all about choice,
and much of that choice centers upon whim((h)wim):
which food? which entertainment?
which way to follow for a vacation(vāˈkāSH(ə)n)?

to choose adoption is not a whim,
it is a lifetime of parenting.
a lifetime of unconditional love
for a child who needs you.

I have been blessed(blest) to work at a school
with parent after parent totally invested in their children,
neither birth parents nor adopting parents
greater or lesser(ˈlesər) in their overwhelming giving of self
to these young people given into their care,

as a teacher I hear a calling and I follow it,
a calling from each child who can come near,

how glorious(ˈɡlôrēəs) to be a parent
who consciously chooses to adopt a child
who calls to them:
sometimes as mother and father,
sometimes as mothers,
sometimes as fathers,

in case after case, in situation after situation,
the child who could have been alone
becomes part of a family,
companioned(kəmˈpanyən) by those who love them,

every soul(sōl) born into every body
deserves to be loved without condition,

today I salute(səˈlo͞ot) the parents who choose
to give their lives into the service
of the young who need them,
of the young they need, too,

the broken circle strives(strīv) again to be whole.

https://henryspoetry.blogspot.com/2021/05/loving-their-children.html