Canvas Shoes
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.