elena winters - Picture This

i picture stepping outside in the frosty air
the wind cracks my face like sidewalk cement
on the other side of the street there's a pale man
begging for coins under the light that shines above him
next to a woman wrapped in a torn cloth with the look
of desperation in her icy blue eyes i quickly turn to walk
away with that image sealed inside my mind

i picture being that little girl whose mother
is so strung out and willing to give up anything
for a rock even the apartment which led
me to sleeping on cardboard pads i picture
having to walk the cold streets for moma's
addiction sometimes forced to be a participant in
one of her deadliest heroin scandals and for some
reason we succeeded through all these episodes
until it led her mother to one of the most desperate
decisions of her life........sell her daughter's innocence

i picture being that woman whose body reveals black
and blue prints how many beatings has she suffered
through the last 8 years of her marriage? to many to count
i picture the most ecruciating pain ever witnessed
from ciggarette burns to stove tops i picture being a prisoner
to my own husband

i picture these things because in the real world
situations like this does happen.......i've seen it
but despite all they been through people manage
to take each piece of themselves and put them
back in place and become a strong as they were
before.....the same person but with a totally
diffrent perspective

elena winters

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/picture-this-8/