Permitted Rape and Murder

 

Last night I awoke to a terrifying scream,
and as I looked out my window I saw a beam
of light, then came a shadow following behind.
For a moment I thought I was out of my mind.
But there it was so clear without doubt,
a man devising somehow to get in and out
of a young girl's home I'm sure he never knew
nor did he ever after wonder too.
He carried her out from the window ledge
down the wooden ladder into the hedge
before throwing her down hard to the ground
in view of my window without making much sound.
Tearing her clothes, his hand tight to her mouth,
he didn't care to glance, look north or south.
Only one thing was on his psychotic mind;
to fulfill his insanity, what he expected to find.
The girl, I could see, wriggled and kicked,
but the towering man was too transfixed.
I saw him rip his own clothes to completely expose
'til I could see his naked body from his head to toes.
He lowered himself down heavily to her,
his crude, powerful figure defining this was no offer.
The girl tried with what little strength she had
to shove off this man who was drunk and mad,
but her effort was useless since she was frail
and younger than the man who beat her like hail,
his fist crashing down to her small face
leaving blood to stream down in a trace.
I could see her tears flowing in pain
as she felt the unbearable lashing again and again.
Her lips parted in a soundless plea,
but no one else was there to see, no one but me.
The man bit and scratched at her skin;
his flesh couldn't cover the damage he did within
to the child below his immense frame,
frightened and hurting, but he felt no shame.
With one last try the girl yelled high
praying that someone passing by
would hear her call and end this strife,
but it took her last breath and so ended her life.
The next morning she was found in a tangle of thorn
of a bush nearby, her body shattered and torn.
Her mother and father wept in utter despair;
her brother and sister could only gape and stand there.
The police came, detectives questioned the street
asking if anyone had any information discreet.
I couldn't talk, I couldn't blink, I wouldn't reply
as I watched people mourn, so many cry.
The suspect of this crime had stolen away
nowhere to be found still to this day.
Lucky enough for him, he is far from this place
whereas I live on here in aching disgrace,
because I know I had seen and heard her,
but my silence had permitted rape and murder.