Wounded Children - Piano

Children starving in Africa. Children bombed and gassed in Syria, and abducted in Nigeria. Children beaten, battered, and caged in America. Abusing children is a universal travesty. The easiest thing for an adult to do is to abuse a child. Often the abusers were wounded children themselves. The vicious circle continues. The direct impetus for writing this piece is the caging of immigrant children in the southwest part of the USA. My country. My Homeland. These children were separated from their parents without any tracking system for reuniting parents with their children. The children will bear the scars of their internment for the rest of their lives. Some of these small pieces bear a tinge of sadness or regret, even anger. But not all. Some reflect the playfulness that should be natural to childhood. And some reflect the tenderness that every child deserves. Some are prayers. Adolphus Hailstork Spring 2020