Once I knew you,
Little child
Face turned up
Reflect the light.
Your eyes wide open
Soul alight!
Dancing
Dancing.
We spun around
Our fingers tangled
Laughing
We were the clasped hands.

But you
You spun too fast
I tried to hold-
The grip can’t last.
You flew away
Laughing
You weren’t happy.
Your eyes held terror
You grasped at air-
I reached out
But I couldn’t find you.
I couldn’t reach!
You couldn't try
You wouldn't.

In place of light
Your hands found darkness.
Illusions
Your laughter held an edge.
You forgot
You forget.
To breath

Once I knew you,
Little child
Now I don’t.
You dance in a cage
You think the bars
Are sexy.
You’re not a child.
Your lightning
Lightning flickers
In blackness
Your eyes are red
Contacts.
You believe
Your stories real,
So they are.
Not an excuse.
Resentment.
Draws the crowds
That hunger
For darkness.
Driven black
To fill their soul.
They don’t know
They can’t.
They kill what’s left

You revel in their thrashing.
They’re drowning!
It makes you less alone.
Less defiled.
So you think

I watch in horror
Throat burning.
Tears tracking
Memories
That can’t.
Can’t be forgotten
Light burning,
Laughing
Laughing!
But
But

I can’t.
I can’t reach through the cyclone
Through the swirling darkness.
I simply watch.
You dancing
Dancing.
Though all the joy is gone.

Once I knew a little child,
Then she died.

©