The Night I Died

The Night I Died

I came to you on a winter day,

Clean, my soul unmarred,

Wanting only to be nurtured,

To be held,

To be loved.

I grew as did my love for you:

My parents;

My protectors;

My shields,

Against danger.

How was I to know

That you were the ones

Who I should fear?

Silence became

My best friend.

Curled into a ball

In a closet corner,

I wept,

I yearned,

I died.

Now I mourn

The death of me

The death of the woman

I might have been –

She died.

© 2013 Debra Shiveley Welch

Excerpt from my upcoming anthology, Swinging Bridge, soon to be published through Saga Books.  http://www.SagaBooks.net.