Little Girl in the Street

A Poem by M.K. JOSEPH

Love with the innocence of a child. That's what love is supposed to be.

Mommy! Mommy!

Her weak voice called, from the middle of the alley
I turned
Only my eyes to meet,
The most beautiful baby I have ever seen

Mommy! Mommy!

Her little voice drowned in the noise of the passersby
The little cold feet supporting her feeble body
She raised her hands
I didn't know if to gain her balance or wave to her mother

Mommy! Mommy!

She wanted her mother to see,

her take the first steps in life
But she couldn't look at her daughter
Cause she was afraid of what people would say
If they saw her burned face
So she turned away in shame
In her heart, she was ugly
just another beggar in the street.

Mommy! Mommy!

The sweetest voice I've ever heard came again
From the sweetest child I've ever seen
Yet, life hadn't prepared me from what hit next
Then I understood how love is meant to be
A goggle that sees beauty, in the ugliest situation

Mommy! Mommy!

Though she was ashamed of herself
Her child was not
To her daughter she was a mother
As the walkers saw a beggar
The little girl saw a mentor
Though she looked different from the rest
She knew her mother was all she had,
In the entire world!
Not a burnt woman begging in the street
But

Mommy! Mommy!