Salted Soldiers

There was a girl whose tears were jeweled beetles.
Their carapaces tough & sharp like needles.

She cried no more or no less than any child.
But when she did, the scene people made was wild.

Full grown adults were shrieking in shocking fear.
They ran from the child who only needed comfort near.

For, she had no idea that her tears were strange.
They fell off of her cheeks & then they would change.

She had no friends, because they all ran away.
Like the grownups they’d been taught to be afraid.

Their overreaction, to her, was barmy.
If they hurt her, she’d cry herself an army.