---

Chris C. Stevens

Robbed of Innocence

She was such a sweet, young girl
dressed in pink and long braided hair
she filled her days with childhood fun
yet the child is just so unaware

Along a sidewalk she skips towards home
her smile filled face sing out a song
a van drives up and pulls her inside
in an instant the child is gone

Her mouth gagged, her hands bound tight
her clothes torn from her small frame
tear filled eyes so full of fear
of a terror her mother can't tame

Her body shakes from fear and cold
she jumps at the touch of his hand
why is he doing these things to me
please mommy can't you stop this man

She feels her body rip from within
the pain building, the terror explodes
violated in every form of the word
her childhood innocence quickly erodes

Unwillingly she quenches that animals thirst
from within a safe place she finds
his smell, his face, his touch, his sound
are scarred into her young, raped mind

Her services are no longer needed by him
robbed of innocence, she's cast into a ditch
her body naked, bloodied and harmed
just a shell of a youth once so rich

She lay there weak from pain and fear
her yesterday was a lifetime ago
forced to age and see the darker side
of a life she should not have known

Nothing was said still sometimes she smiles
robbed of innocence, what would have been?
but some nights she wakes up screaming
God the horror always burns within