Judgment

by Ronald J. Pelias

My sister said on the witness stand
her child was just under bad influences;
she didn’t think irreparable damage
had been done; she still loved him.

That fourteen year old child she loves
tried to kill her. After his father went
to jail for cutting her throat, he tried
to finish the job. Wanted to shoot her.

Smug, just like his Father, he sat in that
courtroom, giving her the evil eye.
She would smile and he would look
away as if my sister did him wrong.

It’s hard to tell your sister her child
is no good. I’ve tried. But she insists
that everyone has an angel in them.
They just need to find their white cloud.

That boy has been a bad storm since
he was born. She never sees a thing
or her seeing is with eyes I don’t have.
Lightning lights the night for blind love.

She can’t cover that scar around her neck
with her cross, can’t let that evil boy
do her more harm in the name of Christ,
can’t live in the eye of God’s tornado.