She lay in Grandmother’s feather bed.
Her thoughts focused on happy nights.
Smothered in many feathers’ warmth
She felt safe and truly loved
By grandparents just down the hall
While the comfort of the bed held her close.
Her life changed when old and cruel
Uncle Joe moved in, some said from jail.
Precious little girls must never know fear
When snugly wrapped in the goose-down bed.
She listened to sounds of the dark night,
Attentive ears heard the voices of the farm,
Hooting of the midnight’s owl,
Neighing of Papa’s friendly horse,
Wind blowing branches against the house.
Then the scariest sound she’d heard before
Stirred great fear deep within her soul,
Causing her little body to stiffen with pain,
Closing her throat with a lump of fear,
The creaky hallway proved to her
That his steps were coming to the place she lay.
Old Uncle Joe opened the door once more.
A precious child should never know
Dread, panic, fear, and horror, too,
When wrapped snugly, warm and save
In Grandmother’s feather bed.
Ann Patterson writes poetry from her heart and life experiences. She grew up in Oklahoma before moving to the Northwest. She wrote “A Child’s Fear---A Child’s Loss” for every parent to understand that they must always be diligent and know their child’s face and fear when a relative or friend is not to be trusted.
Author's Bio
My career has been enjoyable and, as I said I wanted to do in life at 16, "I want to help people", I did that for the past 45 years. I have been a writer, teacher, counselor,administrator for nonprofit organizations that included: Idaho Nurses Association, Retired Seniors Volunteer Program (RSVP), Social Services for City of Davis in CA. I was Director of Volunteer Services for the Idaho State School and Hospital serving the Mentally Retarded, Community Resource Development Specialists for Idaho Dept of Health and Welfare and advocate for mentally ill, mentally retarded (now called developmental disabilities), and fund-raiser/grant writer for the above and numerous other organizations.
I was single, divorced mother of 3 children and raised 3 grandchildren and then came-out as lesbian, what I knew about myself at age 16 in 1954.
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