The View From Mt Aukum

It always seemed
I turned my head
And
There you were

A quick and lonely child
Born to a house
Gone bad

Wise child
You must have
Learned early on
To disappear
In plain sight
Because memory
Comes up blank
For almost all those
Early years

You must have been there
But I can't bring you back

I remember screaming drunks
And knockdown fights
A suitcase on the morning steps
Said Dad was gone again

I can look back into
All of that,
Hear the words
And feel the fear

But I cannot see
A child
Who must have
Slipped away
And hid
Because the only
Safe place
Was out of sight
__________
--Ben L. Hiatt