To Sarah, Afraid

To Sarah, Afraid

A daily effort at domestic bliss,
economizing family, food, and kin.
She saw too sharply idealistic dreams
consumed in welfare programs and regrets,
too hard to live alone and too complex.
Her children wanted things she could not get.
Her trade union lay in her husband's hands.
It was a priviledge that he bragged about.
Her hands were tied with duties and self doubt.
One would think a happy ending lay
inside the private empire of her life,
but no such luck, she had a fear of men,
and agencies and bills that rumbled in.
Her mind had regulated her desires
into a vacant room of spider webs.
There was no tree more frozen by the ice,
than Sarah when she fingertipped her life,
than Sarah when she ate her humble pie
in silent lowered looks that hid her eyes.

Reviews

[Millionth Muse]

I really liked this piece. This reminds me a little bit of someone that I know...she has a tendency to live beyond her means, because she's too proud to admit that she can't afford to. She's unhappy, but really unable to do anything about it...or unwilling. Anyway...nice write. I liked the flow of the piece, the rhythm, and the word choice was really great.

[Ed Hart]

unfortunately there's a lady named Sarah...