The Girl on the Trike

Warm day
Trike with streamers
Lighthearted
I’m a believer

So little and vulnerable
No clothes to cover
No harm to feel
Only joy seems to hover

But the broken was there
Hiding as seed
The evil would come
To her and me

He will betray us both
Cast us to the side
I’m not sure we knew
To go run and hide

This captures a moment
It catches a true
You think it’s the future
But he didn’t come through

I’m fifty years past
Looking at it again
Tears come out
Where to begin

Mental health is a piece
The rest has no excuse
You made us suffer
I’ll always accuse

You left you left
Relationally abused
What father does that
It’s left me confused

Were you here today
I’d sit you down
Give you an earful
And hope that you drown

In all that you did
Your life was a mess
and you used me and used me
To keep your world blessed

You’ll leave the girl
the one on the trike
you won’t protect her
you’ll take a hike

It would have been fun
to ride bikes one day
Just like the one
on that fun summer day

I rode all alone
Pedaling as fast as I could
I wore myself out
You never came as you should

Now you are dead
Supposedly at rest
Never suffering again
As I do my best

To heal from your life
The one you force-fed
Down my throat
‘Til I nearly felt dead

I’m sitting here now
Speaking what’s true
Alone at this table
Wishing it was to you

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Angel Richard is a southerner who wonders how she got transplanted to the Pacific Northwest. She always wanted to live overseas but found that God has brought the world to her through the refugees and immigrants in the Seattle area to whom she teaches English at a local college. She loves thinking deeply, talking honestly, and exploring all the mountains, lakes, and trails that surround her, with her husband of 31 years. She’s the mother of three sons and is thrilled to have her first daughter-in-law.