The Child That Wasn’t

 

The little child that never was

Lost between the done and does

So hard to purge ensuing doubt

That grows inside and won’t wash out

 

Tangled cobwebs, clogging dust

Bar the way to investing trust

The years keep rolling by too fast

The soul restrained in crippling cast 

 

Innocence wiped by another’s slate

Joy obscured by an imposed fate

Abandoned child finds ways to cope

Clings with fear to the hope of hope

 

Rips the scabs and rubs the salt

Wears the shame and bears the fault

An intimate peer this nagging guilt

It teases dreams till made to wilt

 

The little child pulled and tossed

Aching from alone and lost

Another’s shame and selfish vice

Left child to pay too steep a price

 

Love it gives and love it takes

We learn and grow from our mistakes

We pray the child we didn’t see

Becomes the one she wants to be

 

 

 

                    s. paul     (Nov. 2020)