A CHILD'S WORLD

Magpie Tales image prompt this week was rather stressful for me as I had recently heard the story of the attempted abduction of a friend of a friend's child. Fortunately that ended well, however, how many of these occurrences do we hear of that end in great pain or tragedy? We live in a wondrous world that is populated by many good people. But it’s enough for a single evil person to cause havoc and destruction - a devastation of lives that are unfortunate enough to interact with that evil...
 

A Child’s World
 

A child’s hand, so small:
A microcosm modelled
On that of its parents’ wide world.
 

A child’s hand, so soft,
As vulnerable as a flower,
As beautiful as a butterfly.
 

A child’s hand, so curious;
A world of rhymes and songs,
Of games and drawings.
 

A parent’s guiding hand,
Protective, loving, caressing;
A child safe, happy, content
Allowed to grow and flourish.
 

A world of possibilities,
Of endless potential and growth;
A child’s hand, so wondrous…
 

A world so fragile, easily upset,
As frangible as crystal;
A child’s hand, so easily led astray.
 

A lamb, easily led to slaughter,
Innocence lost, a life interrupted.
A child’s hand, so trusting.
 

A stranger’s rapacious hand,
The talon of a bird of prey;
A child abducted, molested,
Its life stopped, a growth arrested.