Poem by Ann Weems

Greenless Child
by Ann Weems

I watched her go uncelebrated into the second grade,
A greenless child,
Gray among the orange and yellow,
Attached too much to corners and to other people's sunshine.
She colors the rainbow brown
And leaves balloons unopened in their packages.

Oh, who will touch this greenless child?
Who will plant alleluias in her heart
And send her dancing into all the colors of God?

Or will she be left like an unwrapped package on the kitchen table --
Too dull for anyone to take the trouble?

Does God think we're her keeper?

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Ann Weems was a poet in the Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery. Among her seven published books or collections of poems are Kneeling in Jerusalem, Kneeling in Bethlehem and the best-selling Psalms of Lament. She died in 2016 at the age of 81.