My Warrior Path (Book 6)

Safe No More

I've walked these parks, tracks
For nearly 30 years
Since I was a kid
In the dark, alone
My parents being elsewhere
Standing around talking

While I scampered around
Nooks and crannies, I'd learned so well
Darting like a ghost
Walking a few miles around
It was always fine
I was never afraid

All these years later
There has been a drastic change
Of the people
In my city, my community
Places, that were my sanctuary
When the moon was high are
Safe no more

A couple of years back
A women jogging at our largest park/beach
At 6am was attacked and sexually assaulted
The perp was never caught
That had never happened in such a public
Location here before

Now at night at that beach
Even walking with my mom
I'm weary of the shadows lurking
There are people doing drugs and
Lord knows what else
In the dark
Away from light

Last time, walking the track at my old
Middle school in the evening as the sun set
I kept my phone's flashlight on
And was always glancing about
I am not nor have I ever been afraid
Of the dark

But this is a different sort of discomfort
Your fight or flight instinct kicks in
And when you realize it's better to leave
You feel your feet take off before your brain
Can even process and catch up

It's a sad state that this is what a safe place
Has become due to unsavory characters
Moving to your city, even as expensive
Apartments continue to go up like legos

Perhaps it would make sense to keep
Current citizens of the town feel comfortable
In public parks in the evening should be
A first priority before expanding the populous
Into something no one's ready for

The decades old sign of
"Stamford, the city that works"
Should instead say
"Stamford, safe no more."