elegy

By: Holly Murfey

There was a time when innocence meant nothing to me.

She was a veil over the childhood I had

And took for granted,

And when she was stripped I wanted her back.

She was pillaged in the basement

of an old friend’s house.

She lay shattered on the sheets

Debased and gone for good,

Surrounded by people who said they were her friends.

I try to speak to her ghost,

But she doesn’t answer.

Maybe she is in another young girl’s heart,

A girl who will protect her and keep her from harm.

And maybe she will come back someday

And say a proper goodbye,

And I will wave this time instead of cry.

She looks so beautiful dressed in all white

Wiped clean of the blood she drained that night.

And she will forgive me for having been so foolish

And I will carry on, just with her gone.