Knowing Not

She runs her fingers

Along tight brown braids

Hanging down the

Back halfway.

 

This child is a gem;

Doe brown eyes and

Porcelain skin close to

That of her doll collection.

 

In the next few moments the smile

On that child’s face will forever

Fade for she will never know

The feeling of true joy ever again.

 

Her lips kiss a neck that is

Not hers to kiss

As she continues to take what is not

Hers to take.

 

She took a child of three and

Tried to make that

Child into something

She shouldn't yet be.

 

She tried to make a

Child into a

Grown woman for her

Own selfish needs.

 

She played off the

Child's naive trust

And went on to touch,

To taint.

In a matter of moments

The soul of

An innocent child

Rots into emptiness.

 

Within just a few moments

A bright future

Dims into an endless

Fight against self.

 

This child will remember not

The exact actions that made

Her this way, only a vague memory

That will haunt her each and every day.

 

This child will never

Be a whole woman.

Only the jumbled result of both a

Single moment and the several that followed.

 

Thoughts that

Never should have

Been acted on,

But they were.

 

This woman was the first

To break this child,

Not the last, however.

Many followed suit.

 

The list is long

And the names?

The child must live with

Knowing them not.

 

I must live with

Knowing not.