Does it burn, my dear? Does it trouble you
I have become the ink breeding scars
in the starless hours you can’t escape?
You were the cat who owned my tongue,
forced me to live by fist and bruise,
prowl night for one sip of light.
It isn’t pretty when chains break into truth,
when daylight burns away the shroud of threat.
Today is the future you thought would never come.
I have found wings; feel the wind of blue sky.
The irony is the cage you thought would always hold me
is now yours to pace and defend with teeth that no longer
have claws.
©Susie Clevenger 2019
The first line of my poem " Does it burn my dear? Does it trouble you" is from Kerry O'Conner's poem Firefly I had several conversations about abuse this week, and when I read that line all those conversations began to mold into a poem.
