eyes of a child

the eyes of a child see what
is happening &
they know it’s not good---
they see the facial expressions
of the loved ones round them,
stressed out & angry,
saddened & depressed,
trying to squeeze a cent out of
every possible path left
to the increasing poor of the
world.

the eyes of the child are then
fed lies,
for whenever they open up their
mouths to ask why things are
going awry,
their own parents, their own
caregivers, do their best to make
things sound the least worrying,
they do their best to calm themselves
in the doing &
the child has no idea why this is,
when they are young---
they only see the lie
plastered all over the faces of the
liars.

inevitably the child will get older &
these questions do not cease---
for even if they succumb to the lie at
the time of that early questioning,
they will return &
they will return on their own,
searching online, spending hours upon
hours to get their own answers &
after doing so,
they will come back to you with the
questions again,
wanting a new answer this time…
why did you lie in the first place?