Today my heart cracked a little©
By Felina Silver Robinson
Copyright© 2014
I read the story of a mother from Mercer County, PA
Cracked my heart a little
I cried me a river when I heard
that
Mary Rader is a mother of four
Doing her job was too much of a chore
With her own mother and her mother’s husband living at her home
There’s was almost one child for each adult
Who could ask for more
But in her eyes it wasn’t good enough
So I don’t know her rhyme or her reason
But she chose her 7-year-old son Antonio
To be sent to his own private dungeon
He slept in the basement
with the cold cement floor for his bed and his bathroom
No company, no food, no hot water
Sometimes allowed upstairs for the sake of a cold shower
Maybe a small fraction of food
An occasional trip to the backyard
Not remembering how to play he catches bugs like a snake
for that he is beaten
He tries to sneak real food but is beaten again
So it’s time to return to the basement
Where silence has become his best friend
Each day that passes his pounds slip away
His little teeth begin to rot and his feet have become infected
What his case worker sees when he is finally found
is a poor little 7-year-old skeleton near his death
The adults tending to the house
Show no remorse of course
The caseworker is puzzled
When she finds three healthy siblings running about the house
With no rhyme or reason poor Antonio lay wasting away
in a tomb darkened by boarded windows
What wrong could a poor little boy do
Covered in urine and feces atop his dirt riddled body
Near death she said
An undeserving mother now facing charges
Antonio and siblings with a better future ahead
Now Mary Rader must face the music
There is no penance that can save her
A full sentence must be served
May god heal her children with happiness and cheer
May they find peace through the love of good people
This is the only thing that can heal the crack in my heart
