To Know They'Re Safe

They say I’m too protective, not letting my daughters out of sight Or letting them play out with friends, when it gets dark at night Am I too protective? If I’m honest, then they’re right I just like to feel secure in knowing they’re safe You read it every day in papers, or hear it on the news That some poor child has been taken, murdered or abused My life would have no meaning, if my girls I were to lose So I’ll do my very best to keep them safe I’ve seen pictures of shattered families - I’ve shared their grief and pain Knowing that their children they will never see again Their lives broken, by some ‘monster’ that a court will judge insane, Parents who probably thought their children were safe I don’t want to be one of those parents, and have pity showered on me I don’t want my girls to be prisoners - I want them to play free It’s a sad social reflection, when you know this cannot be When you fear, that innocent children will never be safe So for now I’ll keep protecting them, the only way I know Keeping them here beside me but as the years pass, and they grow There’s going to come a time when I will have to let them go, Then I’ll just have to hope and pray that they’ll stay safe. © Janette Fisher - April 1995 This poem was written about 20 years ago when my girls were about 7 & 5 following a news item about a young girl aged 16 who had been snatched off a busy high street