Bubble Gum

Children hand me information
Like chewed up bubble gum
They don't know where to put it
It ends up in my hand

I look down
Wonder where my responsibility
Starts and ends

I ponder on what
I am willing to invest
But most of all I wonder
Where I am supposed to put it

They aren't old enough to know
They aren't supposed to say that
Half of them don't even know
The significance of their words

But I do

I feel sick and overwhelmed
With knowledge
It carries heavy burdens
Even after I deposit that chewed up bubble gum
Where it belongs

I still feel it sticky
On my fingers
I cannot forget

Under running water, frozen
It falls, thawing me out
The dirt of today, injustice of always
Pain I know is encased around me
I continue to wash my hands
But it doesn't go away