This is a particularly clever poem, and it is deceptive too, in that at the beginning we think that it is a poem about the Freedom Marches in 1960s Alabama, but at the end of the poem we realize that it is actually a poem about losing a child; the Marches, the location and the social unrest of the time are the backdrop.
The poem details the events of the day in which a loving mother loses her child, and the crushing irony of that loss. The mother in the poem was trying to keep her daughter safe, and away from a march that she feared might become violent, and sent her instead to church, a safe place, a haven - how could her child be safer anywhere on earth than she would be in a house of worship?
When she hears the explosion down the street, her face changes. She realizes that although she has tried to protect her daughter from danger and from violence, danger and violence have found her daughter anyway. The irony of her loss is that in sending her somewhere safe, she has sent her to somewhere targeted by those who oppose the Marches. Her daughter would have been safer marching in the open air than she would have been in church that day. The mother's grief is peppered with guilt, even though her daughter's death is not her fault. This demonstrates the parental love for a child and also illustrates that the mother feels responsible for everything that happens to her daughter. Even when she is not able to protect her child, she feels that she should have done so.
At the end of the poem, her grief is so harrowing that we cannot help feel the pain of her loss along with her. The explosion in the church also links the poem back to its backdrop and the sub-theme of the Freedom Marches as it reminds us all why the Marches were so important and why they were necessary. It also shows us why the little girl was so excited to attend the march and get involved in the fight for equality.
