Memory crept quietly
Trickled in like a distantly heard melody
Haunted the periphery of her consciousness
Appeared in glimpses, in colours, in faded flickers of vision
But then... she turned to face it
And it flooded over, around, and through her
Without mercy, it drenched her in a cold sweat of realisation
Without sparing her, it drowned rationality in a wash of fear
Pain, nearly four decades distant, tore through her
As the memory assaulted her, wrecked her, broke her
Fear, the fear of that day, was there in the room with her
Palpable, beating down heavily on her chest, crushing her
This young girl - she didn't understand
(How could she?)
Wept with deep grief, mourning lost innocence
(Though she knew it not)
And, finally seen again, she reached outward... needed healing
And the woman grown recoiled... freshly afraid of this apparition, this horror
This part of her Self: exiled, abandoned, rejected
This girl, a fabric of pain and fear and grief, no longer a part of her
This child, a lifetime ago: alone, terrified, molested, sullied
The woman fought to be free. She wanted out. She wanted...
The. Memory. Gone.
This one mercy, it could not grant.
© Kit, 24 November 2011
