I found Matthew there alone
sitting on a pile of planks and cardboard,
amid the debris that had once been his hideout.
He had put up the cabin to be his haven.
I found him there,
wrapped up in himself by the loneliness
brought on by his parents’ poverty.
At thirteen, Matthew is lonely and friendless,
because as soon as he sees other youngsters,
he feels ashamed and darts out of sight.
He is alone, rejected like his family,
because no one in the neighborhood
will have anything to do with him.
No one takes any notice of him,
nor of anyone else who shares in the shame of poverty.
No teacher ever comes to see your family here,
nor any minister to share his faith with you.
There is no big brother, no friend spending some time
to make a little confidence and happiness
grow in your heart.
If he has cut himself off from the others,
it isn’t that he doesn’t like them,
but because there are too many people missing
for him to believe that he is loved
and that his family is respected.
(…)
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