There’s a bandersnatch around

every corner

little one,

And the crows are in the corn.

Don’t be content finding safe places to hide.

Be the light in the darkness.

Rage.

Fight.

Be uncouth and ill-mannered

When the world seeks to silence the forgotten ones.

(listen to your mother

hiding, afraid in her little home

I have seen the face of horror, and it walks

and speaks and mews and wheedles and cries

it wears clothes like a man to

hide that it is not a man.)

Fight it.

Don’t give it inches, for it already has miles.

Be the light in the darkness.

You will have fears

Sorrows

Regrets

You will wish you never tried or listened or cared.

But listen.

Care.

Love.

There has never been anything worth fighting for

that cannot vanish in a

heartbeat.

(yours is the heart I can’t stop loving.)

You are strong, my precious child.

Do what is right.

 

Patty Heany is a boring person living a strangely interesting life in Lakewood, Washington with her husband, son, and two spoiled kitties. This poem marks her first publication.