Too Young To Be So Old

Too young to be so old,a child of five,
Yet a man so old, a childhood gone.
I hear his pain in his dreams at night.

I feel his fear in the tears upon his cheeks,
When he reaches for the love that isn,t there.
I feel the emptiness in his embrace.

He holds inside a pain so very deep,
A fear so strong no one can reach.
His eyes have seen,his body felt,

More in life that many adults.
How does he face the things that hide inside?
Where does he turn when the tears come down?

Left behind at a tender age to face the questions mommy made,
When she chose to leave him behind and not to hold him tight.
I have heard him say," If I had been better,

Maybe she would have loved me and stayed,"
He watched her beaten,watched her cry.
The choice she made was to pass him by.

He bottles the pain so deep inside,
Many a night I held him tight,
When the darkness came and took his light.

One day he will see just how much it hurts,
When Poppa and I can't fix what hurts inside.
As I look back and recall the tears that came,

When to us the question came," Do we have to go back to her?
There was nothing we could do ,but take them home
We must hold the tears and pain inside.

He was much too young to be so old.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2012

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Carrillo Avatar
March 7, 2012 at 5:35 PM
This is touching to the soul. It is sad, but it happens every day in our society. It happened to me. my mom gave all the girls away. Thanks for sharing. Lucilla
Flach Avatar
January 6, 2012 at 11:30 AM
Patricia, this is a beautiful, touching, and emotional poem. I was touched and feel your pain. Sounds like a similar story shared with many a Foster home and parents. I don't know if that is the case here. You do have a few errors that you may want to correct to improve this powerful poem: 2nd stanza - "feer" should be "fear"; Take a look at 1st line in stanza 4; 1st line stanza 6 - I think "she" is missing; 3rd line I think "chose" should be "choice"; Last line in poem, 1st "to" - "too"
Edwards Avatar
January 7, 2012 at 9:48 AM
Thank you for your helpful comments. We had to assume custody of him and his sister or loose them in the system. Are you a teacher?
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