Hope is dead

On the outside looking in
she has the perfect life
2 legal guardians, still together
2 siblings never fighting
hard working guardians
friends to protect
people to help her when needed
talented siblings and friends
Dig just a little deeper
You find something unexpected
A broken home, a suffering child
whom no one can relate
guardians fighting or barely talking
all they share is hate
2 children try to laugh it off
pretend like it's a joke
while the third, and lonesome, middle child
can only seem to choke
on air and tears
trying and failing to let it slip by
it is not working
the child is hiding
where no one will ever find
She sits and waits
for it to end
and remembers a poem she read
about a boy of just 3 yrs.
who is killed by his drunk father
she starts to cry
and then pulls back
they'll hear her and find her now
she scruntches in a ball so tight
intent on disappearing
the yelling gets louder
it's coming closer
when will it ever stop?
These questions run around her head
like a never-ending race
The yelling stopped
She dare not move
they might still be here
she waits for hours, that's what it seems
and then she lifts her head
she gets up from her hiding spot
and takes a look around
for years she would remember that
time
when she was scared to death
she found nothing
in her room,
the safest place she knew.
She packed her clothes
and all the money she had
into her school backpack
she planned now
to run away
with no intent on coming back
she heard the voices
down below
of guardians brewing a fight
in the dark of night she ran
toward unforgiving light
she knew the cops
would come for her
she wouldn't put it past them
she dropped her stuff
on a crner
and sat till mornig lick
a black and white pulled up to her
as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes
she knew they'd take her
back to hell
within the blink of an eye
They talked with quiet voices
the sweetest she'd ever heard
they picked her up
and lay her down
in the back of their black and white
they took her to the great downtown
where everybody feared
she slept for hours
till they realized
she had to go on home
they found her information and dread moving her
she knew they had a job
she thatnked them kindly
as they pulled up
and went along inside
where screaming pounded her skull
they hadn't noticed she was gone
nor did she expect them to
the blood she shed that night
was for all who felt her pain
all who knew just what it was like
to not be missed at all
she knows what it's like
to feel so much pain
and to not be wanted back
so for all of you
who know this pain
I feel for you as I do for her