To the young performers on the train:
I can’t stop thinking about the masks you wear to cover your pain.
With bangles around your ankles tied with old tin cans,
You dance to the beat of the drum and walk with your small pan.
With the look of death and hopelessness in your eyes,
Your beautiful dark skin is painted with lies.
All I want is to see the joy of a child,
You’re so young and so innocent, you should still have that sparkle in your eye.
The world has taken its toll on you too early my dear one,
If only I could protect you from the harm its already done.
I wish a childhood of laughter and playing with all your friends,
Over this life you live now, only to meet the financial ends.
I see you look at each passenger on that dead-end train,
Hoping they will see you enough to drop even a dime your way.
Little one, I want to know that you are seen for more than just money,
You are seen by a Father who loves you more than the most precious ruby.
As you dance to the heavy beat, kept in tune by the girl in the corner,
You walk down the train hoping to gather coins from locals and from foreigners.
Your face holds no expression, the look of brokenness in your eyes.
The upbeat dance doesn’t hide the feeling of your demise.
My worldly eyes want to just look away, because it hurts too much to bear.
But the eyes of the Father tell me to just stop, look at her, and stare.
Stare into her big brown eyes that so long to have dreams,
Dreams that are bigger than performing on a train for less than a couple dollars.
Do your dreams include changing the world?
Do your dreams look like being a doctor, a lawyer, or an actress on the screen?
Do they include running wild in some field, playing soccer or painting a scene?
The dreams of a child run far and run deep,
They look like chasing after them, no matter how impossible they seem.
Little one, I long for you to experience freedom from this life that you now live,
I hope to see life in your eyes and to know that you are so loved.
I can’t answer all the questions, I can’t take away all the pain even though I wish I could.
All I can do is look at you with eyes of love: eyes that see you for you dear one.
So, dream big and dream wild.
Don’t let your circumstances now define who you are as a child.
YOU ARE A DAUGHTER, A PRINCESS, A RARE PRECIOUS JEWEL.
