Ransom

Love me
I try
Love me
won’t cry

What else will you ask me to do?

I allow it
yes daddy
I crawl
to your lap

Exodus, this is your cue

With nothing
to say
And nowhere
to go

I’ll pay the ransom that is due

The hands
the fingers
The eyes
and the smile

And a sinister giggle or two

My body explodes in a histamine fit
I think I’m allergic to you

I pretend that your hands don’t get through
This is part of my bargain with you

You’ll love me if I can stay still
and be quiet until you are through

As I lie there
and stare
With a mind
unaware

I attempt by this stillness to say:
I HAVE control, daddy, I do

Of threats there are more than a few
Unspoken but nonetheless true

No one would know, even I would not see
The invisible black and blue

I would try
to deny
and realize
as I died

The only sure thing that I knew

Despite all the tears
and my “unexplained” fears

Everyone would believe YOU