Meter Monday: "Scarred"

by Radhika Sharma

To build a house of brick and stone is facile as could be,

But gluing it into a home was something left to me,

I lay my love, dedication, care; unsullied for family,

But still I perish every day, silhouette of misery

Of black and blue, my skin escapes from my tired bones,

A contusion to my heart, a jolt to the past, every time my name he groans

Sickle eyes, claws for hands and soul tough as stone,

He pinches my love, the last drops of it and spits on what I called home

Hate is the hue and bitter the taste of his blood, wrath governs his eyes,

This home once built of halcyon is now one built of lies,

Hear the crack of my bones, the demolition of my dreams, asphyxiated by your fading love for me,

For once who I called my life is now the mirage of a happy family

I’m tethered to this world from ties long dead,

Crushed in his clutches, no human but a doll instead,

I’m numb, paralyzed with nothing left of me,

It’s defeated, it’s corrupted, now a torment what I once called family

My blood clothe the shards of broken glass, his inebriation is all he feels,

Whiskey for children, vodka for friends, with them his conscience flees,

His eyes bully me, laser to my skin,

Tyranny of my story defeated to the wounds of his sin

I abscond your arrest in my dreams,

My eyes call for emancipation, they scream

But you all hold hands, born a woman? Your husband’s your destiny,

Society, you both kill and cry, it’s your hypocrisy

Entwined in the addictions of this wretched world,

He colored his heart wrong, innocence left, morals turned,

Now I stay put, second of his abuse,

Not treated like a human, thing left to use

Scathed, caged, my life has passed,

Light had left my hand, I know I won’t last,

I rise one last time and hug the ropes,

Closing my eyes, embracing the black cloak.

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