Where laughter should echo, innocence is stolen,
Dreams tethered to heavy chains, and Childhood slips away.

Small hands bound in labor,
Eyes too old for their years,
Lost in fields, factories, homes,
Where play becomes a distant memory, and freedom is but a whisper.

The promises of tomorrow are shattered by early vows,
Girls in white dresses,
Sacrificed on altars of tradition,
Their youth exchanged for dowries.

The roads are dark and dangerous,
Where children disappear,
Engulfed by shadows of greed andtrafficked across borders unseen,
Their cries swallowed by the black night.

Please!
Let them dance in the rain,
Let them run wild with the wind,
Let their hearts be light like colourful balloons
Because every child deserves to be free,
And grow, to dream and to simply be.

.............................[AFRO PRIDE]...........................

It hurts my heart to know that there's still lots of innocts children out there struggling and fighting, just to see another day. Their childhood stripped and forced into a life they were never prepared for.