The Little Girl and the Bully

 

          

         The little girl knows her letters

          but she pretends she doesn't.

         The bully's charm captivated the teacher's world.

          He knows the numbers when the time is right,

          his smile is precise.

          He emulates his heroes

          and can play all the games that make him giggle.

         The little girl pretends she cannot see,

          the bully is taking chances,

         his boundaries lapse into his private land

         of gunshot images and scuffles.

        All he needs to do is to believe,

       so he is told,

       a fighter can always win.

       The little girl is hiding down somewhere,

        there are no shortcuts to heaven.

 Note: this poem was first published in 2014 by an online journal called Black Mirror Magazine. (This journal does not exist anymore.) This poem is included in the collection "She Opened the Cage". 

Photo by Dave Reed. Source: unsplash.com