A Single Tear

A Single Tear

A single tear drifted down her cheek,
Her eyes glistened, she did not weep.
She’d waited these many years alone,
In a dark damp cellar that she called home.

Her prince charming had come a callin’,
She’d tried so hard, but couldn’t help fallin’.
One day she realized she was in over her head,
Strong she was, yet held on by a thread.

For deep inside, her world was unravelin’,
Calm on the outside, but her innards were battlin’.
Others did not see her intense inner pain,
No sign of weakness, yet her strength did wane.

She confessed her affliction to him one day,
He kissed her, then said “I love you anyway.”
On the morrow he was gone, ne’er seen again,
Leaving her alone, but she never complained.

One day a cry was heard, it tore through the air,
Those that heard seemed not to care.
Warm and bundled, held tightly in her arms,
How could she let it come to any harm?

Yet that night as she slept, it slipped away,
She awoke to find it cold in the morning’s rays.
So tiny, so helpless, how could this be?
All she could think of was to run and flee.

Now she sits by the ocean alone in the sand,
And knows that everything is near at hand.
If any could see her, they would gasp aloud,
She wasn’t thinking, her mind in a cloud.

With all that had happened, with all she’d lost,
There wasn’t another path she felt could be crossed.
‘Only one way out!’ came a whisper in the air,
‘Go ahead, get it done, for none will care.’

She looked around wildly for the voice.
The beach was deserted, she knew her choice.
Their child had been born, lived less than a day,
Alone, so alone, her heart cold as clay.

One life was taken, no need for more,
She felt shaken, down deep in her core.
She couldn’t do it, she felt so weak,
A single tear, drifted down her cheek.

Jim Dorrell
12/09/15