Compact five year old
   tiny physicality
  fierce in spirit
used the calf of a protector
   to conceal herself
with one eye on either side
     behind that of a man
  sworn as a sentry
     tenacity possessed
  this small being
     who’d been discarded
    in a forest — a human
  milk carton, all the nutrients
     sucked dry — energy vampires
         faux sentries

Unable to understand
   the gifts of this child
       razor words
   at the ready
       to scar the innocence
  desecrated flesh
      morose marrow
   inclined for death
paper thin light
   comes through the gaps
  of the summer foliage
     surrender

    This five year old
now in the company
   of her future self
      in a tight embrace
   of tucked in legs
       to become
    as small as possible

    Endurance reveals
disentanglement
    at the ready
     to a battled
  a forge the path
      to Queen