Two Years Too Young

"Two Years Too Young", those four words etched into the glossy marble slab

My grave surrounded in red roses, just like my Victor dad

Dazzle visits us both sometimes, sobbing and alone

Numb from all the pain of losing the only family she's ever known

Two years too young I was, when they drew mine from all the names

I was destined to be the Seventy-Sixth, NOT Seventy-Forth, winner of the Games

I am only on five little slips of paper, amidst the hundreds of others here

Yet left alone to walk the stairs, the first without a volunteer

Two years too young my mentor Cashmere thinks silently as I go by

And nothing prepares my heart for the look I see when I meet Marvel's eye

He's already on the stage-there's no "Ladies first" here in District One

Our life so carefully planned together now over before it's even begun

Two years too young-but still old enough is what that swaggering Cato thinks

And I begin to believe him, flirting, returning his subtle sexy winks

True, my skills are nothing compared to his...to Clove's...but still I am a Career

And in my moments of doubt, remember I've got better odds than most any of the others here

Two years too young I am, at seven-to-one, the sponsors place their honest bets

Really it doesn't matter, right? I mean some of us aren't even thirteen yet

But as the days and nights wear on, I realize no matter how long I can survive

There are twenty-three others here that must be killed before I go back home alive

Two years too young, well not really, for I was indeed old enough to die

The Capitol watched with interest as I breathed my last, not a soul suspecting that I

Was an unwitting mother at the time, her tiny life and mine redeemed at Heaven's gate

Two years too young? No, Katniss, I was the lucky one, for I never had to wait