Untold

Inspired by Maya Angelou - “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

She was alone, or almost

For the tidal pain was constant and clung like fate

A room dark, but for a few candles

So she tore and trembled by the inconstant light

Now, all charm escaped and pretty words failed;

She must not venture one solitary sound

For if it heard her distress – all would be lost

Sooner she should suffocate

Instead she lay, clenched and sweated, regretful of a thousand sins

Panting like a rude beast, she held onto her cries

Enough screaming to fill the world, should she begin

The entirety of her life in this eternal moment, this infinite torment

Did it speak? Did it whisper?

Yes, the dripping, hissing burn of its words reached her now

Accusing and mocking

Oh, how easily she had been ensnared

Whimpering, she locked her arms around herself

Determined to make a fortification of quivering flesh and bone

Still, it slipped and crept, crept and slipped

Until the foul thing fell out,

Wailing

Not to be denied

Her damnation made baldly apparent

Through this hidden, inexorable creature

A deep breath, hitched and fraught

Exhaustion battled with a last ounce of resolve

To look upon the horror that had her claimed

So much blood – was it possible?

It clutched at her

And rewrote everything

...

When the nurse came rushing back

The bed lay bare

Mother and babe, nowhere to be found