‘Scuse me, I don’t mean to bother you, but- do you know where I can find my star? You know, the one folks talk about when they say you can look up at the sky and know the right way to go. I’m looking for my star, because I am so small and the world is so big. I’m an explorer, learning the world but you know lots, and you can see higher up so I know you can point out a star just for me. If you will, I promise: I’ll follow its light with all my heart and all the days of my life. I already know about things that glitter but really don’t shine, broken bottles that shatter dreams. I know there are shadows, not light, in booze and drugs and other lies. If my star hears me crying, it will help me find: a warm place to sleep, shoes that don’t hurt my feet, clothes that fit, in rainbow colors, (can I have yellow, just once?) a safe place to rest, and -oh!- food! Good food every single day. And most of all, if I find my star I’ll find someone to love me. I hurt where they hit me am I as bad as they say? Someone once told me the angels put a star in every child’s eyes, to help us look up to the sky, so we can find a guidestar, to be ours forever. That’s why I picked you to talk to: I looked in your eyes and I saw your star shine. So please, look in my eyes and tell me Does my star still shine?
Copyright 1992 by Patricia Phillips, for the Children’s Home Society of Rockledge, FL. Please notify author and obtain permission
before posting or circulating—she likes to know where her star’s light
may go!
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Many thanks to Patricia Phillips for permission
to use this very powerful poem!
-Ken Scully