What is the main response to "Ballad of Birmingham"?

This poem is a tribute to the children who were
sacrificial victims of the Civil Rights Movement.  Written as a ballad, the poem has
been set to music and sung prior to its 1965 publication.  The first stanza, which is a
dialogue between the child and her mother, sets up the irony of situation:  While the
mother fears for her child to go in the streets, she believes the child will be safe in
the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church:

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The mother/smiled to/know that her/child/Was in
the /sacred place,/ But that smile/ws the last/smile/To come upon/her
face.

Following this dialogue
are images reflective of the brutal destruction of life and building: "glass and brick,"
"the shoe my baby wore."  These images are in sharp contrast to the images of "rose
petal sweet" and "white gloves" so evocative of the tragic innocence the child victims. 
Dudley Randall's poem is very poignant, touching deeply the
reader.