When You Read it, You'll know me

Baby Doll

Throw on your dress and put on you doll faces.

Rosy cheeks
Pink overall dress
Tiny hands and feet
Skin soft and porcelain
She was delicate
And he was her world
Her everything
He kept her safe
He held her tiny hands
And together they were one
She didn't know right from wrong
And he was her world
She didn't know that when he came home
And put her to bed
It wasn't a normal thing to do
He would tuck her in
Kiss her goodnight
And go drown his sorrows
In cheap cans of whiskey
She would wake the next morning
To him passed out on the couch
She would smile to herself
Put the bacon to fry in the pan
Stir the eggs
And have them in his hands as soon as he woke
She was good
But she never got a thank you
Just a curt nod of reply
She didn't know she was supposed to be thanked
It was her job
Or so he told her
She always did as she was told
She hated being yelled at
If she was late with breakfast
He would yell
Throw what she had made
And go out for work
She thought it was normal
Normal to get mad when breakfast wasn't made
So she kept on
People would tell her that it wasn't right
That she should move on
But he was her everything
So she would shake her head and smile
Because from her experience
She didn't know any better
When she was good
He'd take her to the corner store
Where he would buy all his cans
And when it was hot
He'd buy her an ice cream
And they'd walk home hand in hand
Ice cream in one hand his fingers in the other
She'd be happy more often than not
That night was different
As she'd done something wrong
And by the time he got home
He was four drinks in
The fifth one downed in a second
And there was nothing she could do
She tried to calm him
But he grabbed her writs
High above her head
Her back slammed into the wall
His breath hot on her face
He slapped her
Told her she deserved it
She cried
It was too much
Her world crumbled
Her everything reduced to nothing
Her rosy cheeks now stained blue
Her pink overalls tainted with whiskey
Her tiny hands and feet
Grabbing and running
Her skin soft and porcelain
Now rough and broken
She used to be a baby doll
But that was when he was her everything
Her world
Now she's broken
Her everything, nothing
And her world is polluted
This baby doll
Has grown up.

-V