1
She needed a place where she could hide,
But her world was open, and very wide,
And she hadn’t learned to live inside,
So she made some space in her pocket.

2
She needed a place for the things she got,
Earings and cookies, coins and what-not,
And in time she had gotten quite a lot,
So she made some more room in her pocket.

3
There were dolls in her pocket, and many toys.
There were fears in her pocket, and also joys.
And an ideal family of girls and boys.
There was love and mistrust in her pocket.

4
Grownups have houses, closets, and locks,
Autos and furcoats, diamonds and stocks ---
No more secure that a tower of blocks,
And less than a doll in a pocket.

5
A doll in a pocket is safe and warm
As mittened hands in a winter storm.
But a child’s trust in her mother’s form
Cannot be kept safe in a pocket.

6
She needed a mother with loving ears
To hear her cries and calm her fears,
And loving eyes to weep those tears
That burned in the depth of her pocket.

7
She needed a mother content to stay
In love with her daughter every day,
Content to love and to let her stay
As long as need be in her pocket.

Copyright (2006) by Arnold Cantor.
All rights reserved.

[Written 1985. This poem was inspired by a real story, of a troubled real girl who kept all that she possessed in her real pocket, that appeared in The Hartford Courant.]