New Year’s gift of orphans: 5

They are fevered; they haven’t had much to eat. Their eyelids are swollen and crusted, their breathing labored. They could be asleep but why, then, do they keep tossing? Starlight doesn’t dance prettily on their bed. Angels don’t sing, trumpets don’t blow. Instead, a cold wind blows though cracks around the window and under the door. On this New Year, instead of joy and love, they are all they have to give.