Thank you for being there,
and showing that you cared.

In the darkness you saw light,
and fought for me with such might.
In the end did it come out right.

Am I what you wanted me to be,
or am I what you thought I could be.
Or maybe I have disappointed you in someway,
just tell me, I promise I'll be there someday.

We fought together so many battles,
we fought together in this war called life.
I was the soldier and you were my armor,
without my armor I would had
been beaten and left for dead.
But instead, we won and moved ahead.

So like I said before
In darkness you saw light
You fought with such might
In the end did it come out right.

- Hardee, former CASA child

I Am a Voice

To a child silenced by injustice,
I am a voice.

To a child with whom the world has broken faith,
I am someone to believe in.

To a child who knows only rejection,
I am unconditional acceptance.

To a child lost in a nightmare,
I am permission to dream.

Amid confusion, I am certainty;
amid instability, constancy.

Amid cynicism and shame,
I am innocence restored.

In a dark labyrinth of bureaucracy,
I am a way through -
a steady arm around the shoulder,
a calming voice in the ear.

Where others are moved to pity,
I am moved to action.

I am as quick to confront the powerful
as I am to comfort the powerless.

Though I may be visited by discouragement,
I do not play host to despair.

I do not relent;
I do not back down;
I do not give up.

In a system of shifting loyalties,
my loyalty never waivers.

For while my appointment may come
from a court,
my calling comes from within.

To the child neglected,
the child abused,
the child cast upon the mercy of an
often merciless system,
I am heart and caring and courage
personified.

I am a CASA volunteer.


written and donated by Richards Partners of Dallas, TX