Fractured

Strangled Fire
Strangled Fire

You pulled her
      across boundaries
            of health
                ability
                logic
                humanity.

She pushed back
     in trust
       against the injustice,
   attempting an in-between
          between them,
                     a compromise
                     a something
                         good for all,
   but it was all for nothing.
         She was rebuffed
                      refused
                      disregarded
                         and
                      confused.

Now the only thing left
     and right
       in sight
       in front of her
       in view
          is the corner
                 you pushed her into.

Is she supposed to submit
     like a puppy
       waiting for a beating
       nursing the bleeding
   as you rub her nose
       in the disrespect?
Is she supposed to run
     the other way,
       drop everything to waste,
   leaving both of you
     at a disadvantage,
           debilitated,
           damaged?

With the lack
   of actual options
     bordering on exhaustion,
         she shut up
               shut off in thought.
         She went dark –
                       dark as if in a trance,
                         grasping at the chance,
                           strategically dreaming
                                for resolution
                                for meaning
                                for any resemblance of a solution,
                and dark as in
                  a place so dank and
                                  d
                                  r
                                  i
                                  p
                                  p
                                  i
                                  n
                                  g
                          with defeat,
                            so fractured
                                  and
                               incomplete,
                          it was only worthy
                                 of silence.

Words could only
   ruin the moment
         the sanctity
         the brevity
         the small bit of her
              she could still see –
        and at the worst,
   leave her constrained,
      as they ripped         apart
          everything around her
                     and through
                          what little of her
                                remained.