I was inspired to write this poem from after hearing a heartrending story from a woman who came back from her first or second adoption trip to China. She recalled a story of a 5 year old who rushed after the leaving parents calling out, "Momma? Momma?" She said every person in that group would have been happy to take that poor little thing home, if only Chinese adoption allowed getting more than one child at a time. When I read that story on the list APC list it brought tears to my eyes, but by that night I'd forgotten it, or so I thought. It must have been nearly 2:00 a.m. when I turned out the light to go to sleep, but as I chased the sandman, the first line of the poem popped into my brain and played over and over and over. "I saw you meet your child today", "I saw you meet your child today", etc., until I was nearly berserk with the need to get up, grab a pen and get the line OUT of my head and safely committed to paper. So, mindful of my sleeping hubby, I went into the living room, found my notebook and a pencil and wrote down the line. There. Now I can get to sleep. Except that no sooner had I written that line down than the second line came flying after it. Now firmly in the grip of the creative birth process, I wrote for the next fifteen minutes or so, and "The Waiting Child" is what came out. I guess my subconscious had been meditating on Stephanie's story all evening without bothering to inform my conscious mind of the fact. Or, as I actually believe, God inspired that poem in order to inj7uence more people to adopt these often overlooked older children, and He merely used me as His medium. Given the response to this poem, I'd most definitely say the latter is true!

I saw you meet your child today
You kissed your baby joyfully
And as you walked away with her
I played pretend you'd chosen me.

I'm happy for the baby, yet
Inside I'm aching miserably
I want to plead as you go by,
"Does no-one want a child of three?"

I saw you meet your child today
In love with her before you met
And as I watched you take her out
I knew it wasn't my turn yet.

I recognize you from last year!
I knew I'd seen your face before!
But you came for a second babe.
Does no-one want a child of four?

I saw you meet your child today
But this time there was something new
A nurse came in and took MY hand
And then she gave my hand to you.

Can this be true? I'm almost six !
And there are infants here, you see?
But then you kissed me and I knew
The child you picked this time was me.

October - November 1998 Chosen Child Magazine 25

© Chosen Child Magazine

Credits: Debbie Bodie