For the Oppressed Everywhere

Cycle

I'm okay today,

And yesterday too.

I try to enjoy

These fleeting days.

I don't see them much.

I was creative

I was happy too

I played with the dog

I worked on my art

I get to relax.

These days are too few

And too far apart,

But I try and try

To have more of them

More often than not.

Denial

Turn and look the other way

Pretend it didn't happen

You know that wrong has been done

There's a way to end it all

If someone would rock the boat

"You know how she is" you say

You know you can't feign surprise

You know you should confront her

But family honor is

More important than our lives?

However if you rock the boat

There will be much hell to pay

Our absence is her revenge

When you're gone, her mask does fall

Our bruises are hidden well

I know I cannot trust her

I know you will not help us

It means you'd have to admit

Something is wrong in our home

Our small town would know it all

Your obvious apathy

Has sown a demonic seed

Inside me it grows wildly

I constantly nip its' bud

My soul it tries to possess

I now understand the cycle

How it comes to be this way

My rage is pointed at her

My disappointment at you

I know you've seen it before

Yes, I knew your compassion

But you didn't want to step in

If the townsfolk found out and

We'd pay again, this time more

Than the last time it's certain

You chose to know some, not much

You let reluctance take heed

It is so much easier

To move on for yourself when

You won't see your own child mar

That woman was your problem

A problem she'll always be

Towards her own children and

Towards her sister's children

And I imagine her brother's

If he and I should decide

To bring forth a child into

Our lives, she'll not be allowed

Unsupervised contact or

Weekend trips, visits alone

His own mother was like I

But turned out to be far more

Of a mother than you

Have the potential to be

For me I know there is hope

Your counterpart on dad's side

Knew all was not well, but hate

So strong she was denied us

She relied upon you for

A chance to see us at all

Even today, as I'm grown

If I were to state the facts

Heads would turn, facts pushed aside

They would opt to subdue me

Because it means all's still wrong

My siblings and I somehow

Must know it's time to end it

We don't speak it, share it but

I wonder if our disinterest

In children is a surprise

Two of us have married but

But children not considered

Seriously and our other

Sibling is not dating and

I'm sure that's all her fault

We learned from her that anger, shame

Humiliation, kicks, slaps and

Other far more degrading

Acts are par for the course should

You prescribe to her methods

Now you lie in a distant

Bed and she doesn't visit

She's got more important things

On her mind like those flat and

Empty material things

Different

I'm not like them and I don't know why

The other kids don't like me and I don't know why

I'm good for teacher, in school I try

I'm nice and like the things they do

Like pizza, recess, and movies, too.

They call me stupid and I don't know why

They won't play with me and I don't know why

Can't they see I'm a kid like them?

I don't hit them, hurt them, or call them names

They still don't let me join in games.

They laugh at me when I walk by

They say bad things that make me cry

I don't understand what I did

Is it my hair? My clothes? My toothy grin?

I'm not that different, yet I don't fit in.

It's like they know there's a secret

To survive each day I just have to keep it

I think they know that I have a secret

Buried inside, locked up, shut tight.

But I can't stop thinking about last night.

I try to fit in and it's hard

I think they see my soul so scarred

It's like they think I'm diseased

They like to see me stay outside

Away from them, I'm not their kind.

I wish that they could simply see

The kind of good friend I could be

I wish that I could share my secret

And dreams, wishes, stories too

I wish that I could start life anew

I have to pretend that everything is alright

Or it will be worse, I live in fright

Much of my heart is broke apart

I pray for mercy and for relief

That day won't come is my belief.

I'm so young and so sad inside

Each day I have something else to hide

Far too young to know much in life

The saddest truth is I want to die

Even sadder, I'm only five.