nowhere to hide.

The child runs and runs,
She sobs, she rages, she screams,
In silence.
There is no hope, just the star spangled sky
And the damp, dark hedgerow.
There she huddles, just for a while.
Heedless of any happy hearth, gentle eyed,
Loving hand or tender hearted home.

She knows only harsh words, hard slaps, whip cracks, bone snaps.
Probing fingers, boozy breath,
Broken bad tooth, snarling, sneering mouth.
Rough trousers rubbing.
Grunting and pain.
Silent suffocation.
No mercy.
Slamming doors
Banging chairs.
Slaps, cracks, snaps
And trembling, tumbling, terror
And running, running, running.

The earth feels sweet and cool;
Her lip bleeds and drips on the cool earth
Her skin is pricked by barbed brambles.
She is glad.
The night folds gentle arms around her broken body,
The dark is kind,
There are no demons in this soft blanket of silence.

She hears a terrible sound.
It is a long drawn-out howl of agony,
A deep moan of terror and hopelessness.
Somewhere an animal is caught in a trap.
Somewhere a creature is dying
The fearful sound comes from her own throat