Childhood Shadows Poem by RoseAnn V. Shawiak

Twisted and gnarled beyond recognition, a childhood sits
faded.

No laughter, joy, or colorful sights, just a childhood
shadow - a memory of constant abuse.

Blackened now from fires of amnesia, rusted from the salted
water of the ocean's bottom.

Shifting sands at last uncovering their hidden faces, washing
over and over their forgotten meanings.

While encountering the salty rinsing of freshly made wounds
of the past's doing, hurting and burning now the heart of
a once little child.

Walking away from delayed sadness, the buried anger, no chance
of survival having been betrayed and abandoned.