Little Boy (Poem)

Little boy

why did you have to chase me so hard

didn't your mother show you what to do

didn't your father tell you not to push

Little boy

we could have been great friends

but you frightened me to death you see

you made a rabbit out of me

and now we can't go back to being anything

perhaps I ought to thank you

for you took my innocence away

and made me cruel

how did you know I'd need that later on

you taught me to hide and you taught me to lie

and to tremble at the telephone

to scream but never cry

surely you were wise beyond your years

for you planted in me unknown fears

that since I've met time and again

I wish I could have known it then

I might have been grateful for the experience

rather than for the darkness

so useful to the hunted deer who doesn't know the way

but really I would not have known

into how many arms a girl will let herself be thrown

just to escape the one who wants her most

better to dance with ten who won't remember her name

than to be asked by one who can't forget it

Little boy

you made me feel guilt that day

which never fully went away

you told the world you hated me

and that's when I began to see

how much it must have hurt

to have dressed up in your first clean shirt

and hope like hell she'd understand

the things you felt, and take your hand

but damn you little boy I never had a chance

you couldn't see I wasn't ready

for what you monsters call romance

Little boy

you never looked at me the same

as though you didn't know my name

and in the end you made me hate myself for hurting you

but no one ever stopped to tell me what I ought to do

Little boy

maybe someday you'll walk my way

and listen to the song I play

and if you're still fond of passing notes

perhaps we'll shed our children's coats

and talk an hour or two of what's become of us and why

that finally we might say hello, forgive, and say goodbye