A guy said, "Wow! My stress level
Has really dropped. I am elated!
I owe it to my meditation."
"Yes, and maybe endorphins," I stated.

"What?" he asked. "What do you mean?
What do orphans have to do with it?
I'm TRYING to share what happened to
My mind, and here you go and ***** with it."

"No," I chuckled. "You don't understand.
You see, 'and orphans' is not what I said.
It has nothing to do with orphans.
I was saying 'endorphins' instead."

"There you go again," he continued,
"Saying it over and over again:
'And orphans, and orphans.' You sound like
A nitwit with a capital 'N'!"

"I, a nitwit?" I said, astonished.
"You are the one who keeps repeating
'And orphans.' Now I see that trying
To reason with you is self-defeating."

"Self-defeating? B...b…but," he stammered,
"I was merely attempting to share
The benefits of my meditation.
Orphans are neither here nor there."

"Listen: I WASN'T saying 'ORPHANS'!"
I yelled. "And frankly, I have to confess
Meditation in your case is
Of questionable effectiveness."

"Although your criticism," he said,
"Should bother me, I will not let it."
He walked away, and as he did,
He mumbled, "And orphans? I STILL don't get it."

-by Bob B (7-27-21)

I never say we are orphans;
But they say we’re.
But who are they?
They are the orphans.

They chased us away from their fold,
Yea, it’s for good that we’ve been raised by HIM.
Their fold hath been stained by outrageous laws,
And are shrouded with selfish attires,
And they have swallowed our innocence and spit it out.
But why they did so?
It was they’d turned ‘gainst us,
And their treacherous acts named them traitors.
It is they lurk around us still to **** us,
They contrive against us still to covet our belongings;
And they lay their greedy tongues stretched at our treasures.
But HE is our Protector, laying us in HIS Arms,
And we are safe in HIS Arms.

No, we aren’t orphans,
For God in Christ Jesus is our Father,
And we are HIS children.

For all the orphans who ever wished
on birthdays, and holidays
they’d be the one that is picked
Instead of left alone in silence
with their doll at six.

The truth is I have no Father
I have
No Mother
I have no sisters, or any brothers…

I have no family just my doll
I don’t think she,
or, God can hear my prayers at all.

I need a Mother someone to watch over me
a Mother -- to comfort me, and to keep me from any harm
I want to be cradled, and held
and, to cry in my Mothers arms
I need a Mother to love me through all my storms
to tell me that there will be sunshine up ahead soon
heading toward my rocky shores
I need a Mother to give me guidance like a light
to give me hope, and love during all my darkest nights.

For all the orphans who live in this world today
who have just a doll to listen to what they have to say...
You're not alone because I am just like you
My heart is always with you -  forever, and a day.

Lou,
You're an orphan now.
The deciding vote
In your favor,
The good kisses,
The latent reconciliation
Linger in this thick room.
You won't need to clean chimneys,
Work in a blacking factory,
Get your ears pinched, and your **** kicked.

You've laid out a fine plaster effigy
In this cherry box;
Yet Enzo's nature is hidden:
His personal tears
And public laughter
Aren't in this demeanor
With rosary weaved into the basket of his hands.

We've polished our shoes,
So we stand and discuss
The crucifix wedged
To hold up the lid,
And how we follow our fathers' footsteps.
We knew it to end this way
With our fathers' generation.
     But you must know your father lost a father,
     That father lost, lost his...
I too am orphaned, Lou,
And we'll continue on
As orphans do.

Half a hundred orphans
Orphaned by choice
By shame
"God's will"
"In his name"
"Abominations, every one"
"Abomination"
That's my son

Someone's daughter -
Late one night
Looking for a bite, no fight
Gunned down
In the name of god
For the love of God
No fight

Dead. On a club dance floor
One dead, two dead
Dozens more
Alive -
Orphans parents live
They give
They grieve
They cry

Changing minds
Changing clothes
Changing lives
Goodbye for real, not by choice this time
One man -
One gun
One night

No one could put up a fight.

Goodbye - Mom and Dad say
We didn't mean goodbye that *way

Live in the shadows
And flee from the sun,
An army of rebels
Marching as one.
Mingle your voice
With the other outcasts,
Your single goal
Is to simply outlast.

Born in this world, blessed are those:
Who with family and love; I suppose.
Born in this world, blessed are those:
Who live with friends and die very old.

Blood defines family; blessed are those:
Who belong to a branch of an old tree oak.
Love defines friendship; blessed are those:
Who aren't family but matter the most.

Born in this world; we come alone.
We live with people and then die alone.
Born in this world; blessed are those,
Who realize we're orphans or I suppose.

-The Silent Poet

There are clouds of sound and noise
That utter thoughts in a muffled voice,
Gestures of hands simply won’t cast out
Cloudy skies in days of doubt.

Like strangers lost in a crowd
Whose cries are buried by the loud,
The loud din of helpless wanderers
Whose presence disrupts and disturbs.

All strangers left on their own,
Islands floating out in the fog;
Orphans with cruel fates to bemoan;
Fates that are swept under the rug.

And who's looking with interest, who reaches down with an arm,
Never so eager to help, neither too late nor too soon?
Who would make this world perhaps a little more warm
And freshen the skies of our cloudy afternoon?

Birthdays from childhood
Are full of celebrations, is understood.

It was not any different for me
Till the unusual plea!

For my 13th birhday
The first time I gave away!

Instead of getting gifts
I contributed to the orphans by giving gifts...

Now I look back to those days
On how happy were they in all ways

I have given tones of gifts
To my fellow companions

But nothing can equalize the happy faces
Of the orphans in their mazes.

Even today I relish
The small gifts I bestowed
To those unknown orphans,,,
Is what which makes my life today
With a brimming hurray!

The way they valued my gifts
No matter how small
They looked at me tall,
And gave the happiest call
Which I would never forget at all!

Those were the real happy days of mine
Which are valued as divine
And will never decline
But I do hope will combine
To give more hapiness: for I define:-
We make a living by what we get
And make a life by what we give!.

Rockabye babies
Our mothers our dead
In the tree tops
We lay down our heads

When the wind blows
They shut all the doors
The cradle will rock
Our clothes are all torn

When the bow breaks
We’re hungry, alone
The cradle will fall
We wished for a family, but now we’re too tall