Secerts Forbidden

The Kindness of Strangers

Bloodied and broken she rises

Hands clenched, her face pointed up toward the sky;

Tears sting her eyes but she wills them away,

Resolving once more he will not see her cry.

She looks in the eyes of her children,

Knowing her pain has become part of them,

With soft words to offer them comfort,

She gives of herself as she's dying within.

Swiftly she puts things in order,

Washes the blood and gets on with her day.

At least this time not much has been broken,

A small piece of her soul is all she throws away.

But each time is worse than the last time,

And it's getting much harder to mask how she feels;

Some make-up will fix up the outside,

But inside it seems like the wound never heals.

I promise you that she is frightened.

I swear to you she never asked for this pain.

Sometimes when you get dragged down too far,

It just gets so hard to get back up again.

Let us show her the kindness of strangers;

As strangers so often turn out to be friends,

Then, as friends we can guide her to freedom;

And rejoice in the person she becomes –

when the pain finally ends.