Her Story 28 March 2019

Like a million other stories. Scattering across our pain. Inside ravenous hearts. Only wanting more.

Here is her life.

She was born, fair of face. At 6 her father died. Her mother ill. They took her siblings away to other homes. No one wanted her. She is too young to do housework.

Her mother recovered. She remained. Her uncle allowed her to learn to read. At least. There was no school. 

At 18, she was married. To a  man a decade ahead of her in years. In life, a lifetime separated them. He with fancy cars. He with cameras. He with his handsomeness. He with his ways she never fathomed, all her life.

Her firstborn died. Four children followed. All fair of face. Like her, wide-eyed. Fine.

Life rolled along. Work work work. Silent fears.

She smiled. And kept her heart away.

He died. But the taps worked. He had fixed them all. No one will do this for you he said. And unsaid, after I am gone. He knew.

Nothing left. Her children struggled with her. Beating their paths.

She knew she could have been someone. Someone else who made it. Someone different.

She never saw herself. Her courage. Her steadfastness. Her silence in calamity.