A tear slowly slides down a small cheek
Pauses for a moment
Then, urged from behind
Continues its journey
The child shuffles her feet as a tear
Falls softly to the ground
The face on which it has travelled
Remains calm
Eyes bright
Pleading
Willing the onlooker to care
But no one does
She returns to the only place left where she feels safe
Where there are no expectations
No angry voices
No shattered toys
Only guilt and loneliness
Which are better – somehow
The realisation that she is all she has
Strikes – hard
Once having a pink ceramic elephant to love
And then suddenly
Not even that.
She is growing old – at six
Older now and wiser
Tears are shed alone –
Wishing only that the Medusa would appear
And turn her heart
Into stone,
Her body into unfeeling rock
She waits
In bed at night
For someone to come and care for her
Someone does
But he’s not the Medusa
And he doesn’t seem to care
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
I found this very frightning and sad. My heart was reaching out to this child. If only we could watch over them all the time and protect them all the time. Them/us. If only. Gypsy