6 months old and

Innocent with trusting

Eyes and curious hands

Running feather light over

My fingers; nothing has

Touched him yet he

Doesn't know what

It means to be hurt,

His heart is unblemished

And so is his skin. I

Wish I could just freeze

Him like that.

5 years old with

Eyes that shine,

Fast moving lips

That know violent

Words and won't

Hesitate to use them

In full, full force with

Flying angry fists and

I wonder how the

Hell she's already like

This.

10 years old with an

Awakening mind; he's

Beginning to know

About the dark sides

Of life even

Though he laughs

Loudly and comments

Fly over his bedhead

And he's still just

A skinny boy but

When did he get so

Tall and when did he

Learn what rape meant;

All I wanted to do

Was protect him from

That.

13 years old and already

Burning out; his blazing

Fire, once so angry and full

And goddamn bright, is

Dimming and dimming

Failing under high expectations

That he never knew he had

Until it was too late to revel

And now he's a shell

Struggling to turn into a man

But I still saw him as a

Baby until I heard him say

Fuck for the first time and

I questioned all this.

17 years old and she's

So grown up it's been

Half a decade, at the

Very least since she

Held a Barbie doll

And she had no

Drunk stories and

Slutty secrets;

I used to hear her

Stories and now all

I get is second-hand

Gossip and she won't look

Me in the eye and there's

No reason for that.

©The Last Letter