Held down.
Not by hands, those long fingers,
Your body weight on mine.
No, I was held down by
Respect,
Obedience,
Love.
Without any one of those things,
I think I could have pushed you off,
Stood up, and
Run,
Screaming,
Upstairs, where there were people
Who might've listened,
Believed me,
Helped me.
But instead, there was
Only silence,
A neverending deep freeze,
Even during the heat of summer.
Down in your basement
An overhead fan creaked
But kept air moving in your bedroom.
No one came down to
Investigate the noise
Or to understand how the
Loudest sounds
The ones not audible to human ears
Are found in the smallest packages,
Like 5-year-old little girls.