Refugee

Frankfurt to Kansas City

Hello little boy, those are fine shoes you have there.

They seem new and your first pair for sure.

Did you wear them to play in the garden in the back because you weren’t to play in the streets anymore?

Did you wear them on the short walk to the synagogue or after the fire it wasn’t like before?

Did you wear them when you walked brother to school before they told him he couldn’t go anymore?

Did you even wear them to parties or didn’t your friends live in Frankfurt anymore?

Hello little boy, those are fine shoes you have there.

They have been through a journey, muddied and a little worn for sure.

Did they keep your feet warm as you hid in the shed scared to the core?                                          

Did they pinch a little as you looked on at the worried faces that Papa and Mama wore?

Did they not fit quite right as you ran along the Dutch shore?

Did you play in them and babble a bit in Dutch because you didn’t hear as much German anymore?

Hello little boy, those are fine shoes you have there.

They have been through a journey, coming apart and too small for sure.

Did you know you will put on a new pair and have a brand new world to explore?

Did you know you will walk in them without fear -- to school, to the park and even to the store?

Did you know that they will take you on new adventures despite the burden you bore?

Did you know that in Kansas you will never be afraid to hope anymore?