THE DARE

It happened on a dare.

I can’t believe I did it on a stupid dare;
didn’t see the little girl who was standing there.
It’s still unbelievable I fired the gun without a care,
and didn’t see the small child coming out of daycare.

The hatred in her mother’s eyes when she looked at me,
Was worse than the sentence now faced; a harsh reality.
A two-year-old’s life was lost because I fired carelessly.
How can I make her parents believe that I acted impulsively?

I recall the sweet smile upon the little girl’s pretty face;
how just before the shot was fired, I’d seen the two embrace.
Mother and daughter, hand in hand, as they’d exited that place.
The painful memory of all that happened, I just can’t erase.

On a foolish dare, an innocent’s life was taken;
her parents loathing me; their lives forever shaken.
Now I await death penalty; feeling alone and forsaken;
wishing this were a nightmare from which I could awaken.