Regarding Willie

I watched Willie leave the orphanage today
It is unlikely we will meet again.
He would spend countless hours
building objects with an old Lego set.
Mostly spaceships, never skyscrapers.
He once told me they were too hard for him.

What was hard he could not understand.
Unaccepting parents who could not see the
astounding beauty that his scrambled
chromosomes and forever child’s soul possessed.
Nor did he know why the other children stayed
clear of him.
They could not comprehend his gentle ways,
His only blessing from the angels.

The system had slowly spun
its complete cycle.
Grinding his young soul to dust.
Foster homes special schools
came and went.
He had seen them all.
Eleven years old and feeling
As old as a senior citizen.

They moved him  to a home
for the mentally challenged this morning.
I heard the nurse say to the social worker.
“He will be better off there
we can’t handle them here when they
get to be older.
We just dont have the budget for it”

He quietly smiled softly as he left
A resigned look on his innocent face.
Wishing only to be
Reassured that the new place
had a Lego set.

AUTHORS NOTE
NOT ALL BEAUTIFUL THINGS
COME WRAPPED IN PRETTY PAPER.
WRITTEN FOR ALL THOSE CHILDREN
WITH DOWNS SYNDROME.
BLESSINGS
JUDE