Innocence Lost
By: Lori Williams
Melissa of the amber eyes
umbrella lashes shielding them
from sin
is hugging teddy as she cries
for Daddy's coming in again.
His gentle knock upon the door
her fingers shredding teddy's fur
as she then
slinks down to the floor
where she hides when he comes for her.
She hears her name called as she pees
the doorknob rattles like a snake
eyes shut
recites her ABC's
as Daddy whispers and she shakes.
Please teddy, make him go away
she sobs into his tattered head
light shines
upon her and she prays
as Daddy puts her on the bed.
She visits castles in the sky
her body leaves for happy place
until
her deadened amber eyes
no longer see her Daddy's face.
Hugs teddy close, lays in the pool
of innocence too soon defiled
and sleeps,
tomorrow she has school
where she pretends
to be
a child.
Lori is a born and bred New Yorker and mother of a 16 year old boy.
She has been writing poetry since her early teen years, and could not stop if she tried.
Her work has been published in Neiderngasse, Prose Ax, Poetic Voices, and Wilmington Blues, among others, and soon to be found in Mind Caviar, Nectarzine, Thunder Sandwich and Dakota House Journal. She is an administrator at MiPoesias, an on line poetry forum, where she can be found much too often. Visit her website for monthly change of theme poetry!
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