There is a little girl fixing the wrinkles
In Mommy’s blouses
She uses the iron just like Mommy
But it gets too hot
And when Mommy sees the burnt shirts
She is so angry
She yells and pulls the little girl’s hair
Tells the little girl she hates her
And wishes she were dead
The little girl wishes that too
So hard, sometimes, that she almost does it
Then Mommy wouldn’t be so angry all the time
And life would be better for once
No more pain, no more broken heart

There is a little girl standing at a window
Waiting for Daddy to come home
He’s been on a boat, in the ocean
Wearing his Navy ice cream suit
He looked so handsome in it
And the little girl was so proud
She can’t wait for him to come home
Savior from Mommy
She didn’t know then
That what he asked her to do was a bad thing
That no little girl should even know about

There is a little girl graduating from high school
She writes a song about leaving home
The pretend Mommy in the song is sad
And doesn’t want her to go
While the real Mommy sits with the other parents
Proud that she’s done such a fine job
Crying pretend tears
About a pretend job done well
How she raised such a fine young woman
A young woman with so much talent and potential
A young woman who can do anything she wants
With her future

There is a little girl with children of her own now
Too many and too young
With a husband who doesn’t know how
Or doesn’t care
To love any of them
She sits in the middle of the floor
Among the toys and dirty cereal bowls
And sobs in her frustration
She promised herself she would be full of love always
Not like Mommy
She is supposed to know
How to be happy about her blessings
And she can’t figure out why
It doesn’t all fit the way she imagined it would

Who does she call for help?
Perhaps a housekeeper she can’t afford?
How about her father,
The man who abused her?
Or her mother,
The woman who hated her?
How about her husband,
The man who never comes home?
Or,
How about the supportive government agencies
Who just might take the children away
If they know how lost she really is?

There is a little girl
Still
Inside of me
Mother of nearly grown children
Wife of another husband
Hard working employee of the month
A woman bent on making things right
One way or another
No matter what
No matter how long it takes
She’s heard from God
The love of her life now
It’s not too late, He says,
To take the tattered pieces of
Her torn apart life
And turn them into Glory.
I don’t have anything to lose
So I believe Him.

08/15/2004

Posted on 08/15/2004
Copyright © 2025 Alison McKenzie