When The Girl In The Famine Photograph Grew Up And Sought Us Out

Originally posted 2/20/2012.

We did not at first believe
how not slight and not brittle
she had turned out to be

We’d thought her so broken
it broke our language
to speak of her so we stopped

and then stayed mostly away from her
(to let her heal herself
is what we said)

When she found out
we were the world
and she was the children

she got angry
and lo and behold
by then was strong enough

to show us how brittle
we’d become
our smooth tongues notwithstanding 

We could not explain
to her satisfaction
why we’d left her alone for so long

We splintered
a little more
each day as we saw

her strength and also 
what scabbed and hardened creatures 
we were

Horrible comrades
who lied
and turned away

not even
close
to being

of much assistance
in any guise —
not even

as the condescending parents
we had first appeared to be
and which she’d never wanted anyway