by Antwone Fisher
Who will cry for the little boy, lost and all alone?
Who will cry for the little boy, abandoned without his own?
Who will cry for the little boy? He cried himself to sleep.
Who will cry for the little boy? He never had for keeps.
Who will cry for the little boy? He walked the burning sand.
Who will cry for the little boy? The boy inside the man.
Who will cry for the little boy? Who knows well hurt and pain.
Who will cry for the little boy? He died and died again.
Who will cry for the little boy? A good boy he tried to be.
Who will cry for the little boy, who cries inside of me?
This poem and story comes from one of my favorite movies, Antwone Fisher, written and directed by the man himself. It describes a young man's journey in coping with a dark history of childhood abuse and psychological trauma in the context of the foster care system. Wikipedia describes a pivotal instance in his life when he finally made contact with his biological mother, quoting him as saying: "In the place inside me where the hurt of abandonment had been, now only compassion lived." I wonder what kind of transformation happened there, to take something that had only brought him the pain of unfulfilled hope and exchange it for something meaningful. It must be something divine.
