"Mother's Knife"

Powerful poem about maternal verbal abuse

The sharpness still cuts me
As if a steel knife
Plunged deeply into my heart
Leaving eternal scars
Not only on my heart
But in my mind
I feel the blood seeping-
Through each cavernous wound
Whenever I foolishly believe-
I’ve healed
No bandage or salve
Will ever cover those painful words-
Spilling forth
From “Mother’s” mouth!
Was not the tearing of my
Physical flesh-
Sacrifice enough?
As she stood closely by
Witnessing my pain and humiliation
In warm puddles on our floor
Beneath my quivering body
Swollen red flesh covered each day
To the ignorant eyes
Of a world too distant-
From my pain
No sheath ever held
That sharp tongue-
Relentlessly sawing away
At my heart
Deep inside the little girl
Cried-
No ears ever heard-
My silent pain
Eternity passes as the little girl ages
Yet now still present
As if the clock stopped ticking-
Long ago-
One tic-
One tock-
Slowly-
Agonizingly marking my torture
Each and Every Day.
Forever trapped within my heart.
Tomorrow will never come
My pain is forever
Like the steel of MY “mother’s knife”

3/31/2006