Orphaned Hope

. for public domain

Happiness was far too much to hope for
in a world of abuse and misery,
and more sadness not worth the talking,
but we could strike back with our tiny fists,
and smiling falsehoods never ending.

We refused to go down without a battle.
If we were fated to be put down so young,
then we chose to go raging and clawing,
hurling our anger and obscenities,
laughing wild in the face of our "betters".

Cruelty for cruelty, we repaid in kind
to all who brought us into their world
to turn their backs on us to languish so.
Knowing only undue abandonment,
likewise we turned our backs to them.

But in the quiet of the night, beneath bridges,
dark alleys, cardboard boxes on doorsteps,
lonely children dream of a loving world,  
and tears roll down burning cheeks in our sleep.
We wish it were so.  We wish it were so.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2019

Poem

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