There is a baby crying
Uttering wails of fear
As its face contorts
Screaming and screaming
Sitting in a shopping cart
In a nearby empty lot
The baby looks around
Twisting from side to side
Bawling loudly
As it screams for help
But she doesn’t possess
The words to yell
Her tiny hands
Gripping the cold steel
Of the handle bar
Desperation etching
Lines of age
Into the infant’s
Soft face
The woman stands
On the other side
Of her car
She slides down
Against it as her body quakes
Her tiny frame
Rattled by her sobs
That she snuffs out
With a bony fist
The mother sits crying
Curled up into a ball
Wondering
If she should leave
Can she do it
Just walk away
As her child screams
She can’t take it
She can’t do it anymore
She is listening to her
Precious baby wailing
Just feet away
Yet so very far from her
The mother sits
On the edge of a choice
Between love and desperation
She gave everything for her child
And there is nothing left for her
She can’t even feed herself now
She has nothing left to give
Except her love
The infant
And the mother
Are separated by a car
And a long space
A need
And a lack of everything
Stands between them
As they both cry
Wishing for what
Neither of them has
Wondering what comes next