Safe Places

 

There was a time when parents sent

the children off to school with homework

done and packed lunches. A time when

children rode a bus ,and played in the fresh air,

and teachers taught arithmetic, reading, spelling –

and no one worried, because it was

a safe place.

 

There was a time when the people gathered

to worship in their best suits and dresses

and the children wriggled in the pews, trying

to stay quiet. A time when preachers preached

and choirs sang and the people prayed – 

and no one worried, because it was

a safe place.

 

There as a time when families went to the beach,

drive-in movies, walked on the sidewalks, picnicked

in parks, making jokes and sandcastles, and memories –

and no one worried, because they were

safe places

 

Where can the children learn?

Where can the people worship?

Where can the families gather?

 

Where have the safe places gone?

 

• Candace Kubinec