Child Soldier

I’m the eleven year old peacekeeper,

I hear the insults, screams and cries,

I hear the pans and kitchen knives,

I hear the whispers, hear the lies.

 

I’m the eleven year old peacekeeper,

I watch with sad and soggy eyes,

I watch the fists and shattered glass,

I watch you tear apart my heart.

 

I’m the eleven year old peacekeeper,

I taste the blood upon my lips,

I feel the bile within my throat,

The sick, the glistening antidote.

 

I’m the eleven year old peacekeeper,

Between the fights of you and him,

Between the bitter, angry rows,

Between the sobs and broken vows.

 

I was the eleven year old peacekeeper,

And though my body grows and grows,

The pain I felt, in head and heart,

May sometimes fade, but never part.