Why?



A child is living with a family
and wonders how long she will stay.
Will it be a week or a month
before she’s pulled away?
She wonders what it would
be like to have a family.
Soon she’s in an orphanage,
waiting and hoping for a family.
Couples come and go and she stays.
They all want babies, NOT
older children.
She cries herself to sleep at
at night and wonders why?
Isn’t she good enough,
is something wrong with her?

All she wants is a family,
a place to stay where she is loved.
One day she leaves and goes
to another family, this time for a
few weeks.
It goes on and on, and she wonders
if the next family will be permanent.
She goes through life, feeling
unwanted, unloved, never belonging.
Font size:
Collection  PDF     
 

Submitted by ronniefox on June 21, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

40 sec read
14

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABXBXAXAXXXXXXX AXXXXXXCC
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 683
Words 135
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 15, 9

Anne Brady

Retired Army SSG, Registered Microbiologist, MT. more…

All Anne Brady poems | Anne Brady Books

2 fans

Discuss the poem Why? with the community...

1 Comment
  • Soulwriter
    :( too often the case
    LikeReply 12 years ago
    • ronniefox
      I agree. I'm a lucky adoptee and I found a wonderful family that loved me. My brother who I found wasn't as lucky. He was in and out of foster homes and the orphanage until he turned 18, then he was aged out of the system to fend for himself. I just thought what that would feel like and wrote the poem. 
      LikeReply2 years ago

Translation

Find a translation for this poem in other languages:

Select another language:

  • - Select -
  • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
  • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
  • Español (Spanish)
  • Esperanto (Esperanto)
  • 日本語 (Japanese)
  • Português (Portuguese)
  • Deutsch (German)
  • العربية (Arabic)
  • Français (French)
  • Русский (Russian)
  • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
  • 한국어 (Korean)
  • עברית (Hebrew)
  • Gaeilge (Irish)
  • Українська (Ukrainian)
  • اردو (Urdu)
  • Magyar (Hungarian)
  • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
  • Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Italiano (Italian)
  • தமிழ் (Tamil)
  • Türkçe (Turkish)
  • తెలుగు (Telugu)
  • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
  • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
  • Čeština (Czech)
  • Polski (Polish)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
  • Românește (Romanian)
  • Nederlands (Dutch)
  • Ελληνικά (Greek)
  • Latinum (Latin)
  • Svenska (Swedish)
  • Dansk (Danish)
  • Suomi (Finnish)
  • فارسی (Persian)
  • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
  • հայերեն (Armenian)
  • Norsk (Norwegian)
  • English (English)

Citation

Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:

Style:MLAChicagoAPA

"Why?" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/103200/why?>.

Become a member!

Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

March 2024

Poetry Contest

Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
3
days
8
hours
26
minutes

Special Program

Earn Rewards!

Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

Browse Poetry.com

Quiz

Are you a poetry master?

»
Who wrote the poem "No Man Is An Island"?
A Ezra Pound
B Robert Browning
C Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
D John Donne