Older than your young years
Knowledge is pain
Living with fears
Daddy's insane
Fists fly with ease
True love and cocaine...
One in the same
Bloated belly burns
Briuses cover pale flesh
Twisted intestine turns
Atop a filthy toilet you cried
A long painful death
Dear little Eli
Who was there when you died
Author notes
An autopsy revealed a ruptured bowel caused by blunt trauma. The rupture caused an infection which led to septic shock and cardiac arrest. The force required to cause the rupture was more consistent with a kick than a punch.
http://www.dui1.com/DuiCaseLawDetail18665/Page1.htm
Two of my friends and myself were babysitters for Eli, the three of us called C.P.S. but we weren't taken seriously.
We would talk to Mary ( Eli's mother) and she was too frightend to talk and would whisper for us to please be quiet or it will get worse.
We made a call to C.P.S. about two weeks prior to Eli's death; we were at Ross lake with Darren, Mary, Joe, and Eli.
Eli had a black eye, he was afraid to go in the water ( no beach, just a dock and deep water) so Darren picked him up and threw him in the water.
Mary cried out "please darren" byt darren stopped her from helping him (grabbed her arm and said nothing) so while darren was controling mary my friend jumped in and grabbed Eli.
We were never allowed to see Eli again.
It is because of the attention to C.P.S. failure to act and protect this little boy that C.P.S. is now more like the gestapo here in America.
More children are abused and killed while in foster care here, than while in their homes.
America is in desperate need of reform!
A contest entry
- IN REMEMBERANCE OF RECENT CHILDREN KILLED DUE TO NEGLECT AND ABUSE by RareFlower.
1100 points, ended February 2, 24 entries
Honorable mention
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
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Made me angry
How could they? what are these people?
I done know what I would of done in your shoes.. It must of been horrendous for you to watch this.. ttrying to help but no-one listening, Im so sorry.. I hope that you are Ok and dealing with this. Thankyou for sharing your story, It must of been hard for you
RareFlower
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wouldn't** oops had a typo , lol
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This is so sad!
And for someone to just ignore the calls like that.
Wow, that is depressing. Poor Eli lost his life because of an abusive parent who couldn't control himself and thought he had to take his anger out on a child who was helpless and defenceless. I just don't understand it, guess i never will. But i can garuntee if that was my child and that was my husband/bofriend that did that to my child you best believe i would stand by and let it go on like that, He would be the one carrying black eyes, and bruises everywhere. Let him pick on someone his own size.
Anyway this was a heartfelt poem and i'm sorry you had to go through something so horrible.
's to you and many blessing for that precious little Eli!
-Mandi
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Thank you. I agree with you that if my child was ever treated like this I would react in a way that would probably land one of us in the hospital and the other in jail.
We ( the other 2 girls and I ) were too young to know how to force the system to work, so would just be around as much as possible and try to distract darren from his uncontrollable anger and jealousy.
He was definatley jealous of Eli, not over Eli's realationship with mary ( Eli's mom/darrens wife) but because Eli had a way about him that would immediately draw everyone's attention to him.
I noticed on many occasions that when people would ooohhhh and awe over what a darling little boy was you cold actually see the physical transformation taking place on darrens face and body.
He would get so worked up that people who knew the family didn't acknowledge Eli until they felt secure that darren was satisfied that he was considered the 'king' and treated as such, then it would be safe to acknowledge Eli.
Mary was hard to understand... she wasn't evil, she wasn't stupid and she was actually very polite and sweet.
She would try and protect her son from darren but it was like she was a child of darrens too and she had to obey him. She didn't come from an abusive home so it hadn't been ingrained in her from her own childhood that abuse had to be tolerated.
But I can tell you that she was terrified.
As clearly as it was to watch and see the anger physically transform darren any person could watch the terror transform mary?
She always shook, she never raised her voice, infact she softly whispered everything all the time and she never laughed or looked up from her hands and feet.
Even when she'd be talking to one of us girls she'd act as if one of us were going to hit her and forcing her to be submissive.
All these strange things have brought me to the conclusion that Eli was not meant to stay.
He was/is an angel that was only here for a short period of time for a reason that none of us will understand until we are meant to.
Although his death was beyond cruel and terrifying, which caused a lot of us to feel guilt, I do have to believe that while little Eli was laying in that filthy bed during his last moments on earth he was surrounded by angels that comforted him and then led him to God.
Where all his pain and terror was immediatley forgotten.
And for that I am thankful, I couldn't imagine if he had survived that attack, if he hadn't been injured that badly. If he had to endure even another day of that kind of torment.
darren continues to appeal his conviction; claiming he was unjustly sentenced due to the media attention and the judges' inability to be impartial.
he claims his sentence is "Cruel and Unusual Punishment" and that HIS constitutional rights have been violated.
Even the 60 years he was sentenced to isn't enough to keep him locked up for life, with good time and parole he will be out of prison one day.
Granted he will not be capable of re producing and he will be too old to beat someone without getting beat back but he will be able to enjoy the sunshine on his face and the fresh air of free living.
I pray he will never experience anything but exactly what he deserves... and that I am sure one day God will see to it.
LOL sorry for the lengthy response...
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that is so sad, and also, i am sorry for your having to face this. very good write, and wonderfull expression of the situation.
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Yes it is sad, and too common.
Thank you for reading this, it's hard to put into words the feelings I experience when thinking about Eli which made the is one of te toughest poems I've written yet.
Thanx again for your comment and for reading.
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Sad. . . .
So very depressing, it's hard for me to hear stories like this and think that. Well it's a cause for thought.
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It is a terrible tragedy and was very difficult to write about. I prefer to remember the parts about Eli beng a cute sweet little boy, but the ugly always attaches to those memories as well.
Thank you for reading.
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