The Toy Left on the Shelf

When someone calls you "a doll"

it means you are their darling.

...But what if they had intended something else?

Perhaps it was because it did not look enough like her

or perhaps it was because

it did not look like what any girl would want to look like at all?

Was it intended to be a toy for keeping the children company

or a mantelpiece

for reminding them they would always be watched?

By then

things were far too gone for a proper introduction

yet far too close for comfort.

So there it remained

on the shelf

poked through by the curious gazes of passing children.