H.E. Mantel

KIDS

“You’re just a kid,” they
say sometimes, when I open
to things, “Just keep to

your own, Mind your own
Self, plenty, we’re gonna umm
handle It…! No need…”

So I quiet…for
a time…but It gnaws at my
brain and my Mind knows

what’s in my Heart and
my Heart hears my Mind and has
to speak above the

noise, the chatter which
claims to know…”…Just how to go
It,” & I cry, cry

out… They sigh, “What do
You know, umm, you’re just a kid!,”
like they, when Love died!

Did Love die? I don’t
remember, now. Why? When did
It BE? Show ME!

Author’s Note: Commissioned for “A Hero’s Journey”, an Anthology about the children of war and the interminable consequences that war has on their lives, compiled and edited by Erik Ekstrom.