Still on the theme of abuse of women, this is an experiment to try and express the possible life journey of a woman who grows through "normal" childhood into adolescent vulnerability and becomes the victim of an emotionally abusive marriage.
In the beginning, the child:
Delighting in each dawn
Star-eyed to embrace the light
And laughter just a little bug away.
Still with her new-made shine
Irrepressibly certain
That the beauty of life lies close to her gurgling reach.
Next: the teen:
Sharp-edged with wistful longing in the evening light
Starry with hope that’s made of one part fear
Wondering who she is, and if that smile
On one man’s face is just the jerk of flesh
Or sign that he has seen her hidden beauty
The loveliness becoming makes her own?
Then, the bride:
Heart fast in aching wonder, softened by desire
Liquid to spill herself; holding her happiness
Awkwardly out before her like her large bouquet.
Gentle-eyed, ready
She comes to him, delight has made her shine
This crystal moment, delicate as glass
Now, the wife:
Uncertain how she ebbed, confused and strained,
Struggling for love that was so recently
Hesitant to affirm since unaffirmed
Ghosts of her dreams lie scattered on the floor
Another chore to sweep and put away,
and who has time or strength to be a self?
Next the mother:
Protective of her own, with eyes afraid
Unspoken fear that they will be as she
A plastic bridge of competence fixed fast
Across the tumbling chasm of her pain
Afraid afraid afraid that if she speaks
Tis she who’ll break the last unuttered dream.
At last, the woman:
Has looked within the mirror of her heart
And found another image waiting there
Golden with glory standing on the truth
Of Love’s word spoken surely into her
The passioned word which none can take away
Entire, complete, she need not fear his rage.
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