Shattered Innocence     Eyes wide open, with joy and innocence, Shattered, yes broken by reality, Childish hearts, innocent minds ravaged, As eyes behold commonplace crime and tragedy.   A world that was once safe, even tranquil, Summers were spent playing outside from dawn till dusk, No worries of crime or predators doing harm, Carefree hearts, laughing children, feeling no alarm.   No airplanes smashing into buildings setting them afire, The human race cared for their neighbors, What happened to values, back then, nobody liked a liar, Doing unto others as you would have done to you.   Parents used to love, nurture and cherish, Alas, now they abuse and neglect their little children, Shattering their inner safety net, At times abuse will cause them to perish.   The daily news into our homes bring stark reality, Telling details of crime the public does not really need, Breaking into children’s cartoons giving updates with clarity, In letting them keep innocence, we should all take heed.   As children we had Dudley do right, Huckleberry Hound, Not strangely shaped creatures, weird sounds emitting from them, Captain Kangaroo entertained us just fine, Children felt safe and secure, fear related mental problems didn’t abound.   In more innocent times, a car accident caused others to stop and help, Never to loot the injured then callously drive away, What has happened to humanity, how has it stooped so low, Will you look the other way, what will you do to stop the insanity?       ©2007 Debra Bateman