Watching

 Watching

poem by e.e.cane

Jan. 15, 2021

everything else has stopped

There is nothing but the slightest sound

outside

just outside

All the waiting is for that

I don’t move from my position

I can see it all from here, and

I am the protector

If I move or leave, she gets killed

I’m 13 and time has stopped

except for the sounds,

every little sound that says 

he’s back, and he’s come to hurt us

I don’t think about me for some reason

Yes, he’ll hurt me, too, but I’m not

afraid for that. Numb. Nothing can

hurt me

But the sound...every little

sound causes me to jump as if

I’ve been stabbed with electricity

I’m alive, but only in my eyes

and ears

I don’t think I’m breathing

Watch the road. He’ll come in the car

and that will be it. I have to watch...

I hid the shotgun close by

I’ll get it again, he won’t do his animal,

unthinking nature

Not while I live

Not while I watch

I was 13...

a part of me

is still watching