Seeing The Little Girl Inside The Lady's Body Poem by RIC BASTASA

if only
you see the little girl
with a pink ribbon
and white ruffle
dress
inside her
&
holding a rag doll
in the image of
your sister
when you first
gifted her
on her 4th birthday

or your mother
when she too
was once
the cute little
girl
of grandpa somewhere
in China
in that old
black and white
picture
that was kept for
long
in that rosewood
trunk

the molestation
rape
sexual abuse
or any form
of harassment
could not have
happened