Can You Be Touched Again? ~ A poem by Dale, a survivor of Rift Valley Academy, Kenya

I look deep within the eyes
     Young child - so old
     eyes glazed, lifeless, cold.
     No, there beneath;
     is a glimmer of hope,
     surrounded by the fear
     within those eyes
     which have not shed a tear
     for years.
Is that life I see:
     beneath scarred lenses there,
     beneath the memories
     anticipating torture;
     beneath the shell
     that seeks no future;
     beneath the sneer
     that lies:
     "I do not care."
Those eyes of stone,
     Eyes that should never have known
     the things you’ve seen,
     witnessed
     been subjected too.

Can you be touched?
     Is it too late?
     With time - patience
     If I wait:
Can you be touched again?

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