How Can We Tell Them

Story ID:	3931
Written by:	JANET KESSLER POLUDNIAK
Organization:	JUST ME
Story type:	Poem
Location:	Lansing NY USA
Year:	2004
Person:	Deals with adoption after loss.

The first photo, taken 1998, of a bronze sculpture--a mother with her children--located at Focus On The Family Headquarters in Colorado Springs.

The second picture is of Dr. James & Shirley Dobson, founder of Focus.

Next is my "rogues' gallery" which I enjoy while I work at my computer.


How Can We Tell Them
©2004, Janet K. Poludniak


A little girl and a little boy
often shared one precious toy.
It was a shabby, teddy bear
with damaged face and matted hair.
If the lady had wanted her way,
they wouldn't have been allowed to play
with that shabby bear the children shared;
but she knew how much they cared.

At meals, bear waited in the hall,
afraid at times that he would fall.
Sometimes the toss that put him there
would leave him dangling off the chair.
He'd rather play and bounce about
than lie there in his chair and pout,
but he was patient; he would wait
for their return to celebrate.

The little girl and the little boy
that sadly shared their matted toy,
did not know why it made them sad.
They just knew he was all they had.
The children lived in a borrowed home;
the family there was not their own.
Their real folks had to go away;
they hoped that they'd return one day.

The girl took peas and passed the plate.
She and her brother would plan the date.
"When they come back, we'll go back home
to our big yard with room to roam."
The boy would smile and reminisce,
"The home we had was not like this.
I really miss the way Mom smelled
whenever I asked her to be held."

He'd smile and pass the tater dish;
and quietly, he'd make a wish:
"I wish that they would come right now."
The man there sadly said, "But how?"
"I know they'd come now if they could.
If I could bring them here, I would,
but they have gone so far away,
they can't be here with you today."
With hope they'd search the lady's face,
but she bowed her head to offer grace.

When she spoke, her voice seemed sad,
and the boy wondered if wishing was bad.
The children thought her eyes could swim
for oft', with tears, her eyes would brim.
She loved the little girl and boy
who loved and shared their matted toy.
How could she take away their dream?
They'd let the children plan and scheme,
And hope that someday they would be
a loving, happy family.

When they're grown, they'd tell them all,
perhaps that day they would recall.
She held the hope they'd one day be
just like their other family.
At night, the lady and the man
would try to come up with a plan
to tell the little girl and boy
why their bear was a matted toy.
"How can we tell them? What should we say?"
"Just tell them their folks moved far away.
They're both too small to understand."
He'd gently smile and take her hand.

As time passed by, love grew there,
for love must grow where people care.
Soon other toys came to stay
but the matted bear never went away.
One day, after several years,
the couple shared, with many tears,
the story of the matted bear
and why the boy and girl lived there.
Those caring folks with sagging shoulder
seemed their hearts felt so much older.
The children sat as though attached,
and nothing their attention matched.

But once the story had been told
there was a pause; the room felt cold.
But suddenly as if connected,
they knew that they were not rejected.
With hot tears streaming down their face,
they sought the couples' warm embrace.
Now that the mystery had been shared
the children knew how much they cared.
The fast maturing girl and boy
handed over their well worn toy,
"What shall we do with this matted bear?"
"Let's keep him on a shelf somewhere."