# # This Silent Pain # # Poem by Marvin Brato Sr

I had received the request
Thing I am used to process
But now it was quite different
For he was only three years old

HIV testing commonly for adults
Who usually take risky behaviors
As sharing needles and multiple sex
But no not this innocent angel so fragile

The boy smiles as he looked at me
Seemed quiet when I extracted blood
I expect nothing serious for this a test
A requirement for a foreign adoption

Yet my heart was in a silent pain
When the result turns HIV reactive
I retested it more than three times
But reality unveil the truth at hand

The poster mum was sadden
As she hopes the boy will find
A home with parents so kind
With future safe and secure

The silent pain surges inside
This conscience as witness
To all the agonies suffered
By those infected with HIV