ISLAND IN TIME I am adrift, an island in time, no mother nor father who truly were mine, ~ The mother who died long before I was born, fed to the infant her hatred and scorn. It was others who held her in nurturing love, the spirits of trees and the stars high above, witnessed the baby, rejected, abused, the mother who hurt and the father who used ~ and delivered the child from her solitary hell, ~ She died (with no one to tell) And others then came to take her place, an obedient child with a happy face, ("Thursday's child is full of grace") And others inside who carried the pain the fear of her badness, no will to sustain the life force, which bled from her veins. A hardworking mum, a doting dad, a child who nobody would have thought sad The beatings continued, the screams stayed unheard, With no-one to witness the anguish and hurt Good and evil were juxtaposed The outside child, the one supposed to go to school and learn her lines, she learned them well so all was fine, And seldom could one see inside to glimpse the world the others hide. At 13 yrs a woman emerged, with a passion for living, (my gift for the giving) ~ my life-force surged, With no mother or father my life was mine not knowing the children now frozen in time, For little could I see inside, to glimpse the world the others hide. I know them now, and live to tell, of other children's private hell, ~Bear witness to their pain inside and help them heal,~ not have to hide So when you see a child please know their pain and fear will seldom show, Unless with love you see inside to glimpse the world that they may hide.   Copyright © Elysha Newland 21/8/98