The little girl played alone in her room
Never knowing a friend other than mop and broom.
Her mommy and daddy always did fight
And kept her awake through long, scary nights.

Her voice was silence, she never learned how to talk
And in her tiny room, nightmares would stalk.
But her smile would cheer an angel feeling down
For she possessed the smile of a clown.

Her curtain was tattered and her clothes were torn
No dolly to play with, no friendships to form.
Daddy was drugged up most of the time
And mommy was crazy, nearly out of her mind.

She’d close her eyes and dream away
Of what it was like to run outside and play
But the bullets in her neighborhood
Knew no target, so she understood.

A heart so pure in this world going to hell.
An angel lost in Society’s darkest spell.
Through the darkness where monsters did prowl
Would shine her sweet smile, life’s tragic clown.

©July 21, 2002 Lori S. Maynard