My old playground is empty now
And all of the children are grown
I’m ill at ease with memories
That may not even be my own
I don’t remember if I played
The games that little Janie did
Her ready laugh and pretty smile
Kept painful secrets safely hid
They say Janie was a cherub
Before it happened - full of love
Afterwards – even angels wept
At what man is capable of
We didn’t understand the world
That little girl had once lived in
We didn’t know her very well
Or the sad places she had been
Often there was hunger and dirt
People were seldom even kind
By nine years old she lived a life
Fabricated in her own mind
Walked on her own feathery clouds
And breathed her own sweet fragrant air
She lived just far enough away
That nothing bad could reach her there
Walt Disney could do no better
There was a magic you could feel
Just knowing Janie any time
Left us no doubt it all was real
She never had to even try
To be the spirit that she was
God in His grace approved her game
And it existed just because
He blesses just a certain few
With a life so removed from care
Still there were those who disapproved
Of little Janie living there
They were the ones who hated her
Because she had her pretty game
They were the ones who felt cold rage
At the mention of Janie’s name
They said, “You are not welcome here
You’re ugly - just go away - hide”
And so they bit - and chopped - and tore
Until something inside her died
It was a gray November day
When we heard Janie lost her mind
We ran away, afraid to see
We all pretended to be blind
There was no laughing or crying
Inside the place where Janie hid
She never came back out to play
With any of the other kids
Years have passed since those childhood days
I can still see her in my mind
Sad that no one cared to save her
It’s too bad no one took the time
There is no way to find her now
Of course, who would even want to
I bet it’s cold and dark in there
Without any light to shine through
And there must be terrible things
Like dreadful spiders that can stalk
I want to ask her what it’s like
...But little Janie cannot talk
She was robbed of so many things
Of her voice, and who knows what more
She is the only one who graspes
The unspeakable wounds she bore
When they told us that she was gone
I think we all flushed hot with shame
And the weight of that childhood guilt
Left each of us profoundly changed
Because everyone heard her call
Begging for help that awful night
We heard her crying pitifully
Put the blame on neighborhood blight
Janie saw her future clearly
In her last few lucid minutes
She just couldn't live in our world
With such callous people in it
They ignore terrified children
Who just need a safe place to be
That was when Janie went away
And that's when Janie became me
Adding your comment:
made mew too with the rest of them reach out to embrace this child.. i am speechless with this piece.
