Can someone paraphrase this poem please...?

BALLAD OF BIRMINGHAM





"Mother dear, may I go downtown


instead of out to play,


and march the streets of Birmingham


in a Freedom March today?"





"No, baby, no, you may not go,


for the dogs are fierce and wild,


and clubs and hoses, guns and jails


ain't good for a little child."





"But, mother, I won't be alone.


Other children will go with me,


and march the streets of Birmingham


to make our country free."





"No, baby, no, you may not go,


for I fear those guns will fire.


But you may go to church instead


and sing in the children's choir."





She has combed and brushed her nightdark hair,


and bathed rose petal sweet,


and drawn white gloves on her small brown hands,


and white shoes on her feet.





The mother smiled to know her child


was in the sacred place,


but that smile was the last smile


to come upon her face.





For when she heard the explosion,


her eyes grew wet and wild.


She raced through the streets of Birmingham


calling for her child.





She clawed through bits of glass and brick,


then lifted out a shoe.


"O, here's the shoe my baby wore,


but, baby, where are you?"

Can someone paraphrase this poem please...?
Are you sure it's a paraphrase you want? The language seems pretty straightforward and clear. However, it may help to know that the poem is in the style of an old ballad but commemorates a modern event--the bombing of an African-American chruch in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963. The first four stanzas are dramatic--a dialogue between the little girl and her mother--and the remaining stanzas are narrative. It might help to look at some old ballads to see how this one resembles them.
Reply:This is about the little kids who were killed while singing in their church choir at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. The point is there was no where safe for people during the racial unrest of the south. The one place we all expect to be safe when we go there is church. And even that sanctuary was taken away. And how do you paraphrase something so tragic?
Reply:well, this child is asking his mom 4 permission 2 march in a protest. The mom, obviously cautious is aware that the rebelion is dangerous and forbids the child from going, offering "safe" activities like church instead.


Well, the child goes anyway. Bombs blow up, and the mom looks for her child, but all she finds is a shoe. The child is probably dead =[


I hope that helps
Reply:A son is asking his mother if he can go protest for civil rights. She says no because she is afraid he will get hurt. He goes to church instead. While he is there, the church is bombed in the riot, and he dies. She is sad.



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