My Juliet - 5 : 11

My Poet - 3

His bloodshot eyes stared, panicked, up at me.

Few be those who could emerge unstained,

Or e'er equipped to trust another soul,

Yet sweet relief empowered me just then.

With narry a peep, I watched him die

(No goodbyes for those who deal in pain),

And back inside did I return,

Emerging with a wooden baseball bat.

Crying, Mother pleaded, "Stay your hand!

No wish had I for you to endure him; 

His threats and curses had me trapped in fear, 

A wretch I be, but I feared pain and death!"

"Then hurt and die!!" I screamed, raising the bat.

"You hid, and all the while, you surely knew.

Ignored our cries, hid in your bottles,

And let us be his perverse playground. Hag! 

Thou hast earned thy share of agony, 

But not from me, for I am not that man. 

Worse than what he did, your inaction;

Your joy cost both your babies' innocence."

To my sister I then turned, and said,

Take the bat from out my trembling hands;

Our mother's punishment is thy domain."

I left her there, and ne'er would I return.

Not long afterward did I break down, 

Having watched my father's grisly doom,

Most would struggle to trust e'er again,

But not this girl. My enemy was gone.

I went to school to help kids just like me:

Those wayward souls with ne'er a place to turn,

Who need someone to reassure their minds;

I give them hope -- a thing I never had.

For years did I wait to be truly loved,

But one after another, all had failed

To give me what I craved: Pure, true romance--

Until at last, I found you and your words.

Even at that time, I think I knew

That I'd found something beautiful in you.

- Juliet

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- © Jackson Cambridge, 2015.