Mom and dad gave me breath.
My heart beat, life blood courses through my system
I was helpless; mom, dad and siblings nurtured me.
The trickster eyed me, mocking.
My wings sprouted early...too early? Was that the trick?
Cruel trickster.
A fledgling. Pushed into thin air before its time.
Free-fall. Down. Down. Down...from the nest.
Collision. Cold dead red brick wall.
The stink adult stranger-white-man holler-glares
"You are a burden and a liability, little Indian boy. But, we will fix that!"
The trickster fly-passes, chortles. The shiney halls amplify the mocking echo.
Bell. Line-up. Stink white men sargent-regiment us. Bell.
Do this. Do that. Do it properly. Do it again. And again.
"Yuk wildit?" Speak English, not your gibberish. Smack smack smack.
Adult bare-fist on just-kids' now-scabby heads.
Kneel down. You will learn the lord's prayer, you heathens.
Trickster wings past, mock-laughing.
Who said that? Glaring eyes on-target. Adult fists on soft head again.
You WILL learn or else.
What's that? Stop you snivelling, you lucky people!
Speak god's language. English. Don't mumble.
When will you people learn?
Trickster laughs.
Soft narrow shoulders and already injured head takes the blunt of a hockey-stick-club.
Child-flesh easily bruises;
Reluctant Submission becomes the tactic
The spirit deformed, bent but not broken.
And so it goes. 13 years behind brick walls.
Child soldiers learn to camouflage, to be silent, to be invisible, to just survive. It abruptly ends.
The trickster's mockery tail off. The long shiney halls dim.
The smells and textures linger.
They gave up. This life, bent out of shape but made it.
Heart-break hotel closes.
Trickster flies off west.
I checked out.
