Hansel and Gretel Re-imagined

She is the girl,

hiding her bruises,

Gretel's her name;

He is the boy,

pretending to be strong,

Hansel's his name;

In a small box

they lived together

on the edge of a dark, busy street;

She is the girl,

hiding behind him,

wishing to go back home;

He is the boy,

holding her hand tight,

reminding her they have no home;

She is the girl,

lured by soft talk and candy,

sitting on men's laps for money;

He is the boy,

who's always in trouble,

fighting for money to feed them;

They are the siblings,

whose clothes are dirty

and eyes shot red from tears;

Here comes a man

dress fancily,

kicking and yelling at them;

He is the boy

protecting his sister

as they run from the man;

She is the girl

who pleads him to stop down the road,

pointing at a home smelling of candy across the way;

The house being the last thing they saw

before being taken away

by the evil witch behind them;

She is the witch,

who's followed the children

all day and all night for a year;

She rubs her belly,

cleaning her teeth with young bones,

happy her meal did not fight back;

She was the girl, Gretel,

He was the boy, Hansel,

No longer living, but never forgotten.