Missing

Last seen in the newspaper shop.Susan.Susan
Deakin.About 11am.Small blonde girl of eight.
An impassive constable was recording the statements
Inwardly weary with the usual hysteria.
Inwardly quailing at the thought of her daughter's reaction,
Her frantic grandmother was stumbling over the details.
Once the story rippled through the village,
A miasma of fear settled like a haar
Upon the sunlit streets
Where mothers now kept their children tight to them.
Little knots of elderly women stood chattering,
Every utterance dripping with deadly speculation, 
Drowning any pious hope that she was off  safe with her friends.
Solitary males must have keenly felt
The sharp glances of suspicion and wondered why.
Beneath the warmth of an otherwise bright sky
Swam an icy current of deepening distrust
Threatening the community with its riptide of rancour.
There was now nothing to be done but wait.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2005

Poem

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Munslow Avatar
September 14, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Very chilling and hard hitting. Excellent writing, I love poetry that actually speaks to me. This is every parent’s worse nightmare. You being the anxiety and fear to life. Thankyou Gabby.
Munslow Avatar
September 14, 2025 at 9:03 AM
I feel your pain. It’s like catching confetti. Love the poem though resonates with me. I get so many rejections it’s like a rite of passage. Take care Keep writing Gabby
Bruce Avatar
September 14, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Thank you,Gabby,for taking the time to readmy poem. I am so glad that it sounded authentic and expressed any parent's fear when a child fails to come home. Wishing you good fortune with your poems. Denis
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