Eternal Echoes

The little girl asked, "But Daddy, why?"
But there came from him no reply.
Terror shook her tiny frame,
But no remorse or mercy came.

A slap, a curse, another blow,
Nine years spent in this prison home.
Her blood-stained gown fell to the floor,
And she escaped into her secret world.

"Don't you love me?" he asked yet again.
His passion grew and would not wane.
Lust and rage controlled his mind,
And to his sins, he was utterly blind.

Sweat and booze filled the room,
And so she gave in to her doom.
No more struggle meant less pain,
And so she focused instead on the rain.

He left her lying on the floor,
And passed out before he reached the door.
The girl got up and began to pace,
Then stopped and stared at her father's face.

She took the knife from her father's coat,
And held it, shaking, at his throat.
"No more," was all the child cried,
And so she ended her father's life.

Curled up in a corner, she cried no tears,
She faced no grief, no guilt, no fears.
How long she stayed there, no one knows,
But her screams remain, eternal echoes.

Copyright © 2004 by Shana Wilson

Shana's Poetry Page