Boys Will Be Boys
Doe eyes crinkled in confusion
Cradling a bloody elbow, soft whimpers from her heartWisps of straw hair like a waterfall over clouded vision Naively trusting, her pain was mine That man cruelly chided my darlingHer small trembling fingers enclosed within my raging fist lips quivering, head throbbing, pressure building, ebbing, giving wayTsunamis of rage crumbling in the face of a man Whose son had shoved my girl to the groundPigtails trailing her eggshell head She must have fallen, fallen down I held my emotion in check by one last thread The man explains to the principal It wasn't his son's fault My daughter's pain was just his boy's love His young son hadn't known how to tell his heart to halt A memory comes back then A dark night years ago, another boy in another life He'd given me a drink, just a little fun he said I needed to loosen up, he said, then he'd let me go Just a drink, I thought I'd try it outWild colors, violet, cerulean waves of lightBright red strobing vibrations, throat parched, a desert in a droughtPain I couldn't say No the pill had choked my throat The next day I'd woken pain between my thighsHe hadn't thought to stay behind Then I didn't care, how could I be so unwiseI, who had my whole life ahead of me He didn't stop when I said it hurt Cold heat inside me and I had no one to tell Rage within a marble face hidden in a flowery skirt Then I asked what I had done to deserve it I hadn't asked him to do it When I saw him at a dinner something stirred inside meI told him it was his child, he demanded I prove itMy emaciated heart sputtered its last beat He said he'd pay to get rid of the childLike a vermin, something to be squashed and forgotten I asked only for emotional support, he gave me a cold smileHe said I shouldn't go around spreading my lies I remember his father saying that night The same thing this man unknowingly said to my poor childA world run by men is full of mightA little girl should understand her place in it A woman is just a toy, to be played with and forgottenAnd of course the eternal classic: boys will be boys