There are battered children
who have never had a hand laid on them.
I watch them as they hover
always on the edge of circling children.
Sometimes I brush against one crouched
outside the half-cracked door
to felt experience.
I think I sense their bruises most
the times I see them stand in line
to try and purchase tickets to life-things
that are free.
-- Grace Freeman. "Battered Children"