The blue-eyed boy

The boy with eyes so blue

The little boy with eyes so blue

quietly waits to be attended to.

Nurses come and nurses go,

 the boy says nothing not even hello.

Hour by hour time passes by,

patients scream and patients cry.

Everyone's busy with lots to do,

blind to the boy with eyes so blue.

He's used to waiting

used to aching,

used to being ignored,

used to being scorned.

Slumped in a chair

as quiet as a mouse,

the boy tries to sleep,

though his pain is deep.

But sleep don't come easy

when you're all alone,

bruised and battered,

only five years old.

Shift over and on her way home,

nurse Sinnie sees the boy, all alone.

She kneels beside him, whispers ''hello.''

Then asks: ''Are you here, all on your own?''

As the boy lifts his head and looks into her eyes,

she instantly knows, the how's and the why's.

Why a boy may seek shelter, a safe place to cry,

far, far, away from beatings and lies.

She cleans the boy's wounds, 

dries his tears,

tell him he's loved

and soothes his fears.

She gives him clean clothes

and then finds him a bed,

tucks him in snuggly,

with a kiss on his head.

Once she knows he's fallen asleep,

she shuts her eyes and gently weeps,

 though not for long just a minute or two,

there is some thing she has to do.

''Police? I would like to report a crime

of child abuse.''

I try to avoid using absolutes as in: never, always, forever, everyone, etc.

etc. except for this case:

It is never, ever okay to hurt children.

about the image: large sized water color on paper