{"id":52962,"date":"2019-06-22T19:50:08","date_gmt":"2019-06-22T23:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/?p=52962"},"modified":"2019-06-22T20:02:24","modified_gmt":"2019-06-23T00:02:24","slug":"stefanie-at-seven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/2019\/06\/stefanie-at-seven\/","title":{"rendered":"Stefanie at Seven"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Stefanie:<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Remember when you were seven;<\/span><\/p>\n

A little freckle-faced imp?<\/span><\/p>\n

You weren\u2019t always sure-footed<\/span><\/p>\n

And often your big toe would be limp.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You liked to play with dolls<\/span><\/p>\n

And brush out their hair;<\/span><\/p>\n

And loved being on the swings<\/span><\/p>\n

Flying high into the air.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At school you were smart<\/span><\/p>\n

And wanted to be the first one done.<\/span><\/p>\n

You thought if you were<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019d be able to have more fun.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your friends were few<\/span><\/p>\n

Except the ones in your head.<\/span><\/p>\n

Going home when he was there<\/span><\/p>\n

Was something to make you feel dread.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I wish I could hold you,<\/span><\/p>\n

Old former self of mine.<\/span><\/p>\n

You were so lonely<\/span><\/p>\n

Searching for something you just couldn\u2019t seem to find.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You lost yourself in music<\/span><\/p>\n

And in making up all kinds of rhymes.<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019d play with your doll<\/span><\/p>\n

And sing to her all the new lines.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I sometimes still feel I\u2019m you<\/span><\/p>\n

Trapped in a tender shell;<\/span><\/p>\n

Wanting to escape,<\/span><\/p>\n

Feeling doomed to hell.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Oh you sweet poor child<\/span><\/p>\n

You never had the chance!<\/span><\/p>\n

Never had the love,<\/span><\/p>\n

Never learned how to dance.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your next years weren\u2019t better<\/span><\/p>\n

And possibly became worse.<\/span><\/p>\n

The hurt inside continued to burn;<\/span><\/p>\n

Same chapter, different verse.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Oh you precious little girl,<\/span><\/p>\n

With your eyes so blue:<\/span><\/p>\n

This world is a sad place<\/span><\/p>\n

One not meant for you.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I long to hold, squeeze, and protect you;<\/span><\/p>\n

To shield you from all that is to come; <\/span><\/p>\n

To save you from what you\u2019ll go through,<\/span><\/p>\n

Before all is said and done.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As you close your eyes, dear child<\/span><\/p>\n

Lost in fitful sleep,<\/span><\/p>\n

I gently kiss your forehead.<\/span><\/p>\n

And for you–my self–I weep.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Stefanie:   Remember when you were seven; A little freckle-faced imp? You weren\u2019t always sure-footed And often your big toe would be limp.   You liked to play with dolls And brush out their hair; And loved being on the swings Flying high into…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1185,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,12,441],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-half-marathon-poem","category-musings","category-poetry-prompt-responses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1185"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52962"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53159,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52962\/revisions\/53159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}