Flower in the Dark

Battered and bruised

locked in a cage

hollow eyes

listless

in pain.

Girls so young

they should run

dream of princes on white horses

swashbuckling captains

anyone who can save them from this hell.

Lanterns held aloft

victims seen

death found

gagging on the stench of rotting flesh

knowing you can never win.

For every one girl saved

watching her blossom
a lasting gift

ten more are taken

the cycle begun anew.