Dorothy and William
Posted: 09 Apr 2019, 00:39
Dorothy and William
I.
There was only darkness to sit with her.
The moon too had turned her back
on Dorothy. William was off
to see Mary Hutchinson, to propose.
William, her beloved, her darling
had sworn nothing would change
between them after the wedding,
all three of them living together.
How could that be?
Would she be shunted aside,
like an unwanted relative?
Her chest ached, tightening
like a strap across an over packed trunk.
How would she ever forget
being pushed out to live with an "aunt"
after her mother died, and Dorothy
but six years old, her four brothers
left behind with their father?
II.
She tried not to think of the future
crowding her out of her beloved Dove Cottage
and William’s life. How much longer
would he lean his head on her shoulder
as she read gently aloud, soothing
his headache, his tiredness?
When the night filled with moans
from William’s bedroom, how would she face
her sister-in-law the next morning?
Doubts of her own self worth rose
again and again, despair
a swarming darkness, overwhelming her.
What was Dorothy to become,
her heart emptied, forgotten
like an abandoned hive?
I.
There was only darkness to sit with her.
The moon too had turned her back
on Dorothy. William was off
to see Mary Hutchinson, to propose.
William, her beloved, her darling
had sworn nothing would change
between them after the wedding,
all three of them living together.
How could that be?
Would she be shunted aside,
like an unwanted relative?
Her chest ached, tightening
like a strap across an over packed trunk.
How would she ever forget
being pushed out to live with an "aunt"
after her mother died, and Dorothy
but six years old, her four brothers
left behind with their father?
II.
She tried not to think of the future
crowding her out of her beloved Dove Cottage
and William’s life. How much longer
would he lean his head on her shoulder
as she read gently aloud, soothing
his headache, his tiredness?
When the night filled with moans
from William’s bedroom, how would she face
her sister-in-law the next morning?
Doubts of her own self worth rose
again and again, despair
a swarming darkness, overwhelming her.
What was Dorothy to become,
her heart emptied, forgotten
like an abandoned hive?