The Closing of George Mark Children's House
What can we do
If nothing for the children
Who lay prostrate and dying
Then we do not deserve any piece of
Heaven
for ourselves.
Where can they go
These tiny beings with fragile minds
And broken bodies
Their spirits held together by the four walls
of this place
And dreams of a painless tomorrow
We cannot abandon them, these innocents
Practicalities be damned! Empty out your pockets
the pillows of your heart
For they deserve the ending they want
When life itself handed them the cruelest start.
*George Mark Children's House (http://www.georgemark.org/www/index.htm) is the only free-standing hospice and respite care facility for sick and dying children in the entire United States; due to the economy and a lack of donations, it only has enough money to stay open until June. By contrast, England has over 40 children's hospice centers. If you can, consider donating something, no matter how small. Thanks.
5 comments:
Hospice for children...that's just so sad. I can't even imagine the pain of finding out your child is dying and needs hospice.
I just spent the last 30 min on the GMCH website, including reading all the personal stories. What a wonderful facility. Ironically, we drove past there (sort of) on our way to Berkeley yesterday. I'd never heard of the place before reading your blog. Good news - apparently they've gotten an influx of donations and are managing to stay open, for the moment anyway.
btw your prose is stunning, as usual.
Thank you so much Sandy, both for your kind words and for going to the GMCH website. I just re-visited it and saw their update on donations. I'm so happy for them. I donated some money and not 20 minutes later they actually called me to thank me. They also sent me a really nice email.
I just read this article about the place in the L.A. Times and was so moved (and saddened to think it might close) I just had to write about it. The prose just flowed out in about 30 seconds. I miss being able to write - I used to do it all the time. Now it's very, very sporadic.
i wish i could afford to help out, but i can barely help myself right now. God bless those children.
Veleska, your kind thoughts for them are plenty help. Thanks for reading too!
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