Boston Children's Community Mission | An Original Poem Inspired by the Boston Children’s Collaboration for Community Health

Alondra Bobadilla, Boston’s First Youth Poet Laureate (2020-22) wrote and performed an original poem, “Boston is a House of Mercy,” during the recent Collaboration for Community Health Annual Funded Partner Convening. This event was held on May 18, 2024, with more than 100 participants representing more than 50 organizations within the Collaboration.

“Boston is a House of Mercy”

Mercy - Mercy is the compassionate treatment of those in distress, especially when it is
within one’s power to punish or harm them.
Hunched over the pool of Bethesda,
“House of Mercy”,
Waiting for a miracle only given to one or three,
All by chance it seems,
Though no one stops to think maybe it’s
The lack of hands drawing one another to the streams.
Maybe it’s the fact that the law of this land is
“Every man dragged by his own feet”.

It’s the way the projects face each other and
their backs are built turned away from the rising of the sun,
Shadows aching over the people, a relentless drought,
Like agua posada, the community swells and bursts.

Click here to read the full poem.