Please don’t discount the grown-up strain
of all that long ago, little girl pain.

So far away, so many years
she’s well beyond the need for tears.
She wants to hold, but can’t be touched
The risk of closeness is just too much.

A broken spirit at a tender age
her emotions reside inside a cage.
A captive of terror she cannot recall
she too struggles to understand it all.

The fragments of her soul are out of control,
yesterday is now condemning today.

Escaping to far corners of her mind
she lashes out and strikes you blind.
She drowns her pain, and tries to forget --
she becomes what she hates, and needs to regret.

Through a self induced and painful haze
she defies your love and meets your gaze.
She’s beyond disapproval and well into despair
she can see no other place, but there.

She’s well aware of all there is to lose
and yet she clings to a past that won’t let her choose.

Time may pass and scars do heal
but shadows from those wounds continue to reveal
that demons lurk within her as well --
she carries inside a private hell.

One has only to look beyond the mask
or give a damn enough to ask.
Her wars are privately waged and secretly lost
She’s kept them hidden at too high a cost.

Don’t expect her to forget what she can’t comprehend
just allow her the love to not have to pretend.

Persistence is tough and gratitude rare.
Try to remember hers are no easier to bear.
Forgiveness seldom comes easy when signals are mixed
but her trust and survival is well worth the risk.

Deep inside and beyond the years
is a little girl with childhood fears ...
She may fight at first or push you away
but continue to try -- continue to stay

Into a woman that child has grown
Please help her to see she’s no longer alone.