Once Upon A Time
by Steven Craig
Once upon a time
a girl was born with a future
One she did not understand.
it was hers from the first day
but no one spoke of it.
It was a need she would always feel
but could never escape or leave behind
yet
it was always just beyond her grasp,
beyond her vision,
beyond her dream.
She voice it quietly,
with hope that another would tell her,
point for her,
hold her,
insure she understand,
but no one dared.
She felt alone
Totally alone
No matter how many friends surrounded her,
she was her own built-in outcast
she needed,
she had desire,
she had a will,
a life to live,
but it was not hers
not without some missing part,
not without some moment
when she was touched
and held
and told that she mattered,
that she had a place
that she belonged to someone.
Once upon a time,
she needed it,
hurt for it,
cried for it,
suffered for it,
but what was it...
what was this answer
that drove her to the deep end to consider a different end.
No one told her she suffered from the deepest need of all,
to give,
to serve,
to please,
to be controlled,
to feel another's strength,
will of direction,
to know hope for the first time in her life
that she was understood.
No one told her
but left her to drift
until she reached to place
where all girls end in bleak loneliness
without hope of retrieval.
And there she stands,
innocent of the world,
waiting for the light,
the voice,
the grasp that will take her.
And there she waits,
solemn,
quiet,
determined to find out who she is
and why does she matter at all.
Held there immobile,
she waits,
she looks for the smallest ray of light,
the distant reassuring voice,
the sunlight place where she will dwell
forever in another's service.
But in that place
Once upon a time
Her only comfort
Is the private tear
The exhaled call
That is never answered.
01/10/2016
