there once was a little girl

who loved to giggle

sometimes she would not like

what she was told to eat

in her stubbornness

she would sit at the table all alone

until darkness came;

Til all but two were tucked in bed.

She would get thumped upside the head

and called some terrible things

but still she would sit hoping they would forget

her plate was not clean.

words were screamed

and words were repeated but to bring the spoon to her lips,

she just would not do it.

And in the end she would go to bed dirty.

stripped naked she was forced to stand

while the food she refused to eat,

well,

it was rubbed all over her bare  skin

(mashed potatoes and peas burned in her memories)

in her nose and her ears

And down to her toes.

 her pretty brown hair mangled and messed

perhaps one day she would learn;

and she did.

She learned not to speak,

she learned not to argue.

she learned to do what she was told,

to eat every morsel on the plate before her

until nothing was left;

And she slowly disappeared.