Cowardice

     Your hands were shaking.  Your voice trembled.  I saw the fear in your face.  I watched from behind, unable to offer aid.  I wanted to reach out.  I wanted to speak up.  I wanted to jump to my feet and pull you out of that room.

     They treated you like a criminal, but I couldn't say a word.  How could I?  Who would trust the word of a child?  I could have cried.  I could have climbed a mountain and screamed to the world that you were innocent.  What would it have done?  These people were determined.  They needed a name to put in the papers.  They needed a body to put behind bars.  I'm sorry, daddy.  I wasn't brave.  You were the unlucky soul, and I was the coward who could not stand against fate.