Shoes - Poetry

by Meera Ostrom

You put yourself

into the shoes of another.

Trying to see the world

just as they see it.

Your new shoes

are a kid’s size 2.

Every side serves as a home

to rips and holes.

The soles

have been destroyed.

Your new shoes

are two sizes too small

for the feet

that inhabit them.

What can you do?

Your shoes

are spotless

but they are too big.

Deep pain fills your heart

for the pain of the boy

who lives in those shoes.

Your life

has never seen this pain

but you can’t take it from him.

Dedicate your life

to better others’.

Meera Ostrom is a pre-social work major at the University of North Dakota. She wrote this poem about working with children who have been neglected. This poem is about the feelings that social workers, or future social workers, may have when they want to help a child get out of a bad situation.