A Crippled Woman, Part I

(reposted as poem instead of essay)

I want to tell you a story of a woman -

a mother of many young one's.

She knew she yelled

too loud,

too long,

at those too little;

too young

to protect themselves.

She said to her loving husband,

"It is too much."

She said,

"This is too hard."

(4 children and homeschooling).

She said that she feared she'd break;

or break them;

and she did.

She broke in small ways:

shattering confidence,

joy shifting to sadness,

aloneness,

blank inability.

And though he promised

they were resiliant-

He lied.

But he didn't really lie;

he did believe they were resiliant.

He said, ''You are so good,

so strong;

I KNOW you can do it-

I believe in you,

with God's strength;

just trust in Him''.

But He was gone

most of the time

when the stress was too much

and the screams were too loud.

They broke in different ways,

at different times.

And every time a whispered crack,

a creak that threatened a crash-

she'd weep like the

weeping willows on Euclid Avenue-

Weeping, weeping, weeping.

She ran from all the pain

And when they broke,

she broke.