Him
By: Ann Clary

Teens are told torture is glamour, a romance of artistic beauty.
Mistreatments show how much notice they deserve, even if it’s pity.
We’ve lost control of purity to preserve and sin ever so pretty.
So by wearing black proudly and exposing scars in plain view, we boast.
‘Calling all youth stained with scars! Gather round, and show us just who has the most!’
Slowly forgetting extraordinary days as they vanish as ghosts...

Would your past compare to his past? Would your pain be lavish contrast?

If he told you his story, would yours seem to you as little value?
If he told you his secrets, your shocked reaction could you not subdue?
He could confess of a dire enslavement while all love was left absent.
Not just his past, but his present...knowing love’s absence will continue.

But would it matter?

Would it make a difference? Would you make a difference for his tomorrow?
Would you tease the silence, now aware you’ve known nothing like his sorrow?

Seems soon you’ll learn because he needs a friend.
Be it unknown; you’re the one he’s got left.
His life stained with lies, he fights to contend,
Only to hide a life of joy bereft.

And he’s crying now, though he wouldn’t reveal.
He’s not sharing to brag, so different than most.
With all the sincerity that one could feel,
He simply confides, not intending to boast.

His vulnerability is one characteristic of desperation.
Remember Extraordinary? Through Truth you found separation.

Once, soldiers trusted wounds to Red Cross, saving lives in numbers immense.
War like his is only saved from loss by the cross red in abstract sense.

Would you realize the power you hold simply in a witness of Truth?
You could be a shy listener untold, or the one who saves this boy’s youth.

Do you know it would likely be the first try someone’s made to end his suffering?
Do you know you could change all his addictions, his pain, his dreams, his everything?

Hope, love and passion, in just a few words,
Are all it would take to be his rescue,
Sharing the favor as a loyal steward,
To One who changed everything in you.