Reason to believe

• Jessica Ford, Grade 12
• Poetry
• 2004

Would you come outside and play the games from long ago?
Games of innocence now lost and faith that does not show.

Would you read to me the stories of places far away?
Where love and truth prevail and always win the day.

Would you hold my hand tonight, as I close my eyes to drift
In fearful dreams before the morning light dawns swift

I hear the ugly words they say, the hate within our land
I see the scarlet rivers that stain the once clean sand

But I always do remember the way in which you’re you
The way you love and forgive, the way you strive to be true

Will you be there when I awake to remind me in your way
That good people are alive and in our world today?

For without you by my side, without your smiling face
I find it difficult to believe in goodness and in grace.