Prevention

A little girl, I watch fade away The red in her hair and the teeny tiny scars on her wrist remind me so much of myself And where I used to be on a different level of this game And another across the continent who begs for my silence not my help And I worry about them, about what might happen, about the goodnight kiss, about how they’ll live through this Because it’s not always easy to be strong And it’s easier to just block out everyone Here I am, hoping praying to the god that I do not believe in Anything just to make sure they won’t be gone when I come back around Anything to assure them that it’s okay to want a way in and then To make sure they’re not one of the one-fifty every day Who take their life in the name of despondency Who fade away A little girl who sits and misses her father And another who just doesn’t get it The reds in their hair and the teeny tiny scars on their wrists remind me so much of help And the way they so desperately fight it It’s not impossible to stay strong But sometimes it’s hard to find a reason why And when I wonder about their safety, I think about the millions of them The little girls in black and blue, the ones who weren’t so lucky as to know when And I think back on the times when we thought it was okay When we thought it would all be over someday And I wonder. I wonder about the tens of thousands a year I wonder about the ones who I never knew but might have loved or cared for And I see the reds in their hair And I see the sleeves gripped in the palms of their tiny hands as they lie on the floor And I wonder How at thirteen they- I- anyone could ever feel the need to leave. I watch them as they post their woes and they bleed out the grief I see myself in their eyes and wonder how they could think they’re worthless I drive myself to worry and I never let myself stop Because that’s when the emptiness drives through and that’s who they let talk Because if they become that one-fifty a day I’ll never look at that number the same, by the way If they become that one-fifty That’s two more that I failed to stop And that’s two more beautiful things in the world that we’ve lost