Verbal Visions

Broken Chains

Broken Chains

Listening to the silence of the old farmhouse
the girls whisper to each other.
Outside the sun
is waning. The end of the day
is finally approaching
and they can go to bed.
The embrace of sleep is their comfort
and dreaming their only escape.
But not for long.

Their mother, gone forever
was their only protection
from his wrath. His hate and anger
has only grown stronger.
He resents them for their beauty,
a reminder of a woman, and a life,
he longs to forget.

Their daily chores completed,
they are banished to this
stale prison. Out his sight,
as if they never were.
They are his slaves,
and he, their chain.

They are tethered together
by their mutual sorrow and disgust.
They can hear him working outside.

Now is the time.
They can make their plans
while they are safe and alone.
He thinks they have been broken.
He is wrong.
And in the morning
they will break this chain forever.
He will never see it coming.
And he will be
in his grave.