The Spoils of War

There’s a silent strength that flows through feminine veins,

One hidden behind a pasted smile and a black sense of humour,

Build to withstand the darkened hours, lighted only by the moon,

And the toughest judgements disguised in any vicious rumour,

She sleeps in rivers of nightmares and foreign secrets.

**

She spent long years fighting ghosts of the past,

Swimming in rips of unforgiving tears,

Treading water as she battles the never ending currents,

Shadowed under the dark umbrella of her greatest fears,

Shedding her pain in her wake; footstep upon footstep.

**

There were days when the wind whispered the harshest screams,

Showering her in a stew of mixed emotions — leaving her hollow,

Until she felt she couldn’t go on, couldn’t survive another day,

As wave after wave of devastation was all that would follow,

Her personal battle against time.

**

One day her eyes opened upon the veil of necessity,

A lighted rainbow pointing the way; a gifted arrow,

Highlighting her options — the hardest, the wisest,

Her vision no longer on the path desperately narrow,

Her heart jump-started with possibilities.

**

She learned to listen to the air bubbles that flourished in the sunshine,

Freedom screamed loudly, calling her name,

Wisdom curtseying at her feet,

Putting to bed her ancestral shame,

Building her warrior spirit amidst the mundane of everyday routine.

**

Her mind made up, her fear stuffed into her most glamorous handbag,

She walked tall and proud — splashing goodbyes within her wake,

Courage giving her the strength to walk away from the man she once loved with her very soul,

Picking up every shattered heart piece, sobbing through every ache,

Rebuilding roads that were once closed to her.

**

It takes a special kind of woman to forsake love for the calmness of peace,

Which is just a weary closure to her stroll,

For she’s spent years fighting — tormented and terrified,

Until she finally won back every piece he stole,

Strengthening her resolve.

**

You may not have witnessed her fight,

She suffered silently in a war that nobody could see,

Weaving through minutes of every day in agony,

Digging through sordid hour, after sordid hour, until she discovered she could once again be free,

The victor of strength and peace.