"She Can't Sleep"

Lullabies are nullified when she lays at night petrified
Not knowing who's gonna come inside from the outside
When the chaos is really inside on its way out
She cries out

"Rape"

She can't wait until it's time for school
Her getaway from being used as a tool
Her mother turns away not knowing what to do
She has evidence but her financial situation won't allow her to pursue
The right means to have it handled
A family dismantled
How much more can she handle?
She's burned every night like a candle
Her step father's the flame
Is it the alcohol or his sickness that is to blame
When really it's one in the same
She goes to school and silently sits in shame
Her body language shows she's in pain
But the teacher's are too busy
Working overtime just to make a decent living
The after school programs don't have the funds to be giving
What these kids need to keep them living
As they're dying in the streets
Or victimized in their own sheets
When she speaks in a low whisper
No visible marks so they don't think he hits her
She whispers to a woman she trust
He kissed her
But not like a Dad would
Her best day at school could easily go bad from good
If she could
She says she'd close her eyes
And visualize
Herself flying so high in the sky
That there was no way that he could even try
To separate her once virgin legs
Most days at school she wishes he was dead
Instead
Of living in the house she stays in
Her grades slipping
No friends
She blames him
Alone all day until the moment he walks in
She lays in fear as he whispers in ear
Things that at that age she doesn't understand
Lost innocence
All taken from this man who pretends
To be the step father when her mother comes in
But her boyfriend at night when he comes in
Late into her bed
Fearful to even replay it in her head
Her innocence stripped
Immaturity shed
She grows up telling no one
And even though for years he's been dead
At 35 she's still scared to go to bed...