Life starts

by Brenda   Sep 3, 2017


I sloughed you off
like a snake
loses its skin-
You slithered off
my life began...
-
Eighteen years I accepted
your ways-
Allowing you to minimize
who I was.
My heart grew brittle
chipping away year after year
until it was just dust
at my feet...
-
Stepping off that cliff
was not easy-
not gonna lie,
hard days piled up.
Just knowing my girls
were safe,
my heart was my own,
allowed sleep to come...
-
We survived, we thrived
we learned to navigate
a life
without you in it.
You pushed back,
causing turmoil-
just like the snake
you've always been,
slithering in, breeding dissention,
snapping heart strings,
turning my girls
against me-
just because...
-
I think back
on those dark days-
Not really sure
how I made it through them.
Felt like an elephant
sat on my chest
day after day
when my oldest child
forgot I existed...
Thankfully her sister
still remembered -
Without her, family, and this
wonderful man
who later became my husband
I wouldn't have
made it through this fire...
-
You tried your hardest
to bring me
to your level-
I sloughed you off
once before.
I'll be damned if
I'm ever going to
wrap myself
in your skin again...

    report violation
18


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Latest Comments

  • 5 years ago

    by Megan Chapman

    Stunning and strong write Brenda!
    I know this path well. This too has been my trajectory. My poems are my catharsis in my continuing rise from those ashes and I love to read other's expression of their liberation.

    • 5 years ago

      by Brenda

      Megan, thank you so much! I deeply appreciate your kind words. Writing is indeed a catharsis. It helps purge those moments and heal too. I look forward to reading pieces from you-

  • 6 years ago

    by Em

    JUDGING COMMENT:
    Life starts by Brenda points 4
    Brenda may not write as often as we'd like but when she writes it's with a strength that only people who have been through such horrible times will understand. Her words and her layout are perfect, as ever, in my eyes. I find myself saying again this week well done on sharing and overcoming these challenges head on - you are an inspirational lady.

  • 6 years ago

    by Ya----Na

    Life starts when we find true love or it finds us.

    • 6 years ago

      by Brenda

      Thank you, yes, it is so true. I wouldn't be where I am today without this true love.

  • 6 years ago

    by The Lone Ranger

    i love your use of metaphors. they work well in representing the reptilian revulsion and heavy emotional pressure.

    well written piece that is worthy of its award.

    all the best, LR

    • 6 years ago

      by Brenda

      Thank you so much! It was a dark time in my life. Thankfully I'm in such a better place now and he's just a distant bad memory.

  • 6 years ago

    by Meena Krish

    This though the words are heart filled with pain,
    they portray the inner strength which you possess and
    never allow anyone or any man to make you feel low in
    every way...rake care

    • 6 years ago

      by Brenda

      Thank you so much Meena, thankfully I am in such a better place now and I will never allow another person to do that to me again. Hugs-

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