Past, Present, Future

Past, Present, Future



Here in the pale sunlight, dappled upon the wall

I mouth the words, to the mirror in the hall.

Please let me get through the hours to lunch,

Please don't let my body feel another punch.



Let there be no words of accusation and filthy abuse

No look, no sigh, no tear, no word, to make him let loose,

With fists and feet upon my crouching form, his rage

Like a crazed animal that has escaped from his cage.



Please let there be no mockery of the sexual act

The silent acquiescence an unspoken, yet dreadful pact,

The violent violation of a body sorely abused

The pain as the act of love, tears at my flesh, leaving confused,



The sad and lonely frightened mind, that left the body to its fate

Please let him not come home, this monster, the man I love and hate.

Let me not betray by look or gesture anything that could inflame

That madness, that escapes, seemingly without blame,



To inflict the wounds on the body and deep within the mind,

You see he is sick, he cannot help it, he does not mean to be unkind,

But when transfixed I feel the cold, cold steel of the gun at my head,

Oh God, please, please don't let him shoot me, I don't want to be dead.



From the past the images came so I am still reminded

Of a time in my life, when by love I was blinded.

Now, thankfully in the present, with this poem a token

To take into the future, with eyes wide open.