Haitian quake orphans were reunited with their parents
after American Missionaries were arrested for taking 33
children on a bus headed to the Dominican Republic for
adoption. The missionaries had no paperwork and the
leader was taken into custody by Haitian officials and
charged with child abduction.
NPR report by Jason Beaubien, March 19, 2010
Hubris
The daffs in the field had just come into bud
When an April hailstorm loomed.
Rather than loose them to the pelting ice
We gathered, we saved these hundreds of blooms.
Gifts of golds and doublet cups
Huddled in tepid water
In every vase on every table
Mantel, sideboard and counter.
We smiled at our valiant efforts
They were safe in the warmth of our rooms
While sleet made its way over garden and green
And winds cut cold till the next afternoon.
As if they’d been missing their parent sun
They paled and wilted within a few days.
The few we’d missed and left out in the storm
Lasted much longer than the one’s we’d saved.
Like children, they danced in the rough spring breeze
Perhaps a bit lonely, their siblings gone.
Blissful and free from our chastened gaze
Next year we plan to leave them alone.
Lorraine Riess
CRP
2/26/16