Curfew

You beat me frantically,
And I was a mute for three days,
My screams woke latent birds,

Like black bats, scowling,
At my pitiful face.

I disturbed the sleep of earth worms,
And neighbours,
Bothering the mellow moon

I appeared as suddenly as
The freckles that bridged my nose
That summer.

Later, caked with my own recipe,
Of salt and slime.

As suddenly as my unripe breasts,
Beneath my Frankie says Relax
T-shirt

You just kept beating,
Three days of silence,
In the bath

With my colour changing toy
My buttocks,

Red, blue, purple
Brown, green, yellow,
I hated you

You cherished me, it terrified you,
Both of us terrified, of each other,
That boy! That boy!

We were just holding hands,
On Kirby's lane and listening,
To the crickets sing, Daddy. 

2012 © LH