It lives by a river where garbage piles rot,
It plays in that water where you really should not.
Some have just shirts, and others just pants.
Some are just covered in boogers and sand.
A few of them struggle to carry ’round babes,
Since mom’s with strange men, using sex to get paid.
They’ll come running to you on their worn out bare feet,
A dozen at once if you bring some sweet treats.
It’s a life of survival so don’t be dismayed,
When punching breaks out over what games to play.
Young ones want affection, but the big ones do too,
Ten year olds fight to be cradled by you.
One is but five with a job on the streets,
He begs all day long for the food he might eat.
None have known showers or ever been scrubbed,
Brown clothes soiled in urine press in for my hugs.
Your covered in rashes and stink head to toe,
But my heart’s all swole up and I can’t let you go.
Tin shacks pressed together, tarp roofs and dirt floors,
You’d think they’d be sad but they’ve never known more.
Where is your future and how will you grow?
Will you get out someday, or always call this home?
This toddler’s so little, his body’s too frail,
I hold him so gently afraid he might yell.
Not a sound does he make, he’s not smiling at all.
He stares blankly through me at the small shanty wall.
Girls come without warning and swift him away,
But I see a new one that’s running my way.
A real life Jungle Book Mogly, this one looks wild,
He leaps to climb up my torso with a huge toothy smile.
Laugh with me and dance and sing,
I’m bringing you joy but my heart is breaking.
Now tell them goodbye, begin walking away,
They’ll stand till you’re gone with ongoing waves.
“Bye! Bye!”, they shout as you go.
Then retreat back to dig in their foul river hole.
I came to help you, but you are changing my life,
When I close my eyes I see you at night.
I picture you there inside four tin walls,
When it pours down the rain do you stay dry at all?
In the dark of the night there are hundreds of these,
Curled on beds and dirt floors where hunger won’t cease.
They are kids in the slums down in Kathmandu,
And God has not forgotten them… will you?
