First in Spanish, then in English (below)
RED BALLOON
Randy went out on a hike. Something red
Caught up on a bush. Closer now – there, a ribbon from the
Splattered red plastic…and at the end of the ribbon,
A little jar. And in that jar, a scrawled message in
A childish, printed plea. Please Santa, can i have
Some clothes and some drawing things?
For a moment, Randy’s
Heart stopped beating, he was taken so
By this child’s urgent plea. Christmas is coming
And this Mexican child wants the simplest of wishes.
Randy’s heart nearly bursts. He hurried home to his
Wife with the child’s penciled scrawl, and she, too,
Was overwhelmed.
“You don’t turn away from an opportunity like that,” Randy said.
So Randy and his wife went shopping. They guessed
A little girl’s size, and they bought pencils and crayons
And drawing paper, and they bundled it all up and drove.
They crossed their state border line, heading south, for
It had taken only an hour to locate that pleading
Little girl, via a local radio station. And on into Mexico.
After all, Randy said, “Love has no borders.”
And they met that little girl, Randy and his wife did,
And they played Santa Claus to that little stranger,
A stranger no more; no doubt glued for life in
Compassion and mutual love. Cross-border love.
It must have been heartbreaking for Randy and
His wife, for years earlier, their only child, a son,
Had been taken from them in death. Still,
To honor this little girl was to honor their
Missing son. Indeed, love has no borders at all.
— —
As seen on television news over Christmas 2018
