Trial and Error Child
At the tender age of five years old,
She begged her father to stay.
Compared to how long she's been alive,
He stayed for only a day.
She was told to keep an eye on the "kids"
And to her, that seemed just fine.
The only flaw in this family portrait:
An adult at the age of nine.
Opinionated and stubborn all her life,
Antagonizing everyone who disagreed,
At the ripe old age of fourteen,
She wished she could be freed.
At the grown-up age of eighteen years,
On the anniversary of her birth,
She was wined and dined and cruelly raped,
While the devil enjoyed much mirth.
Always guilty until proven innocent,
She approached the Lawmaker for advice.
Instead of help for the situation,
She was given threats with looks of ice.
So through trial and error, she made mistakes.
But she muddled through on her own.
She no longer felt the need to obey.
Trial and error now her own.
At twenty she moved on to become a wife.
At twenty-one she became a mother.
All through the years, however, she felt
She was Trial and Error of another.
She is the Trial and Error Child
Raised with trial and error choice.
Through trial and error these days
She relys on her own voice.
� Kathee Tschudy, January 1, 1998.
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