Childhood Innocence is not something

That can be kept for forever

Though sometimes the world steals it away

Keeping us from personal endeavors.

 

Picture this, picture me;

A child, whose life has been hectic

Standing on the stairs, watching her mother cry

As her father goes away with the medics.

 

Her mother tells her to watch her siblings

As the ambulance rushes out into the night

This sinking feeling in her stomach

Promises something isn’t quite right.

 

Her father was sick with the c-word,

A word never said in their home

Like denial would make it disappear

Even though they knew it won’t.

 

It wasn’t supposed to be that way

She repeats to herself later on.

My life was supposed to be happy

And she resented the world so long.

 

She was a child then, and long after

She grew older and realized

The world is unfair, but life goes on,

And she saw everything with new eyes.

 

Things in life may happen and hurt

And may cause you to shut others out

But being able to deal with the pain and move on

Is what life is all about.

 

She grew up a little more that day

Learned adulthood isn’t as easy as it seemed

But she took in stride, put a smile on her face

And went on to live her dreams.