Childhood

When I was small I smiled, laughed and played I asked questions I ran behind the trains Played in the rains. Hummed music Tuned antics. Then dawned the puzzling age- Life invaded like a stranger, prowler and a thief. Haunted enigmas of horoscopes and palmistry To believe them or ignore them again another mystery. I was asked to grow up- To fit in and belong- My heart longed to sing a song Of the cruelty and the wrong. I was asked to be a girl- But I ignored all womanliness I was made to feel as an instrument I had no joys, no sorrows of my own all were on rent.