what I knew would please someone
would make it faster out of my mouth
than what I actually felt and thought
my childhood was perfect
was an unknown lie to protect someone’s secret
that I was forced to share
my childhood was perfect
was holding on to my shrinking self
aching in the big picture
my childhood was perfect
was your abuse entering my body
my childhood was perfect
was protecting what’s fragile
me in the hands of an old man
my childhood was perfect
was built on the secret room you locked us in that still exists in my body
my childhood was perfect
was what I believed in
because you conveyed it to me
with your hands on my hands on your body on my body
Croque-Melpomene 