i knew of a little girl
so quiet
so invisible
so lonely

i knew of her father
a drunken man
a sexually abusive man

and her mother
a woman of pain, suffering and sorrow
a woman of once known success
a woman of once known class

i know of a little girl
silenced 
by the threats and beatings daily 
from her father

i know of a man
never to be guilty of the guilt he will never feel
never to feel the pain of a loss

i know of a mother's missing love
a mother confussed and alone

i know and knew of a family silenced
by a silenced little girl
                -diamond-