a presence a compulsion
fingertips lose their grip
on a receding, fading future
the boundaries that enclose
a village girl
already narrow
shrink further fate looms
brutal remorseless
she is not sure
what this tightening within
means her body
that has barely learnt to bleed
is unprepared
command or gift?
snatched from her imagined home
as craftsman’s wife
mother of who knows who
village matron
bundled into a careening
jolting journey
not of her choosing
a light
brutal blinding
she cannot see
yet
the opening burgeoning
possibilities
the open plains
the pondering the joy
the sword piercing her heart
does she glimpse
the dilating brightening
tomorrow
