I witnessed this many years ago. That moment in time has never left me…

Please God don’t leave me!

I stood in the darkest corner of my lawn

As always trying not to be seen by those that wander the streets at night

I heard the cries before I saw the woman

A lone man was making haste towards what he would consider

His freedom

A woman close behind blinded by her tears staggers in his wake

Pleading over and over not to go

Pleading for him to stay with her

For better or for worse

Please don’t go

Please don’t leave me

Please oh God please

I’ll do anything you want

I’ll buy you anything you want

I stood in the shadows watching with distaste

Distaste more for myself

Than for her hollow pleas

As they past I could see his empty soul

Feel the love as it drained out onto the street

I watched as she battled in vain to keep the man that no longer loved her

I watched as they both ignored the boy that remained behind them both

She didn’t care for his safety

Paying him no attention as she begged for salvation

His small voice crying into the coming night for his mother to come back home

Cars passed close by

So close the child staggered back in sudden amazement at just how far into the road they had gone

Once again he runs for his mothers leg

Once again she ignores him

On they go down the road as her begging increases

On they go as her son becomes that much more a man

A man before his time

Standing defiant he tells her to stop her crying

Indifferent to his age she tells him to keep quiet

So young

Yet with a mother younger than himself

So uncaring of her child will she make a display of herself to all around

So uncaring of her child would she put a man before him

So selfish

So lost

So sad

So sad for the child