She wasn't old enough for time to
have folded stuff like lines and wrinkles
on her face,
pain had not marked her brow and heartache
seemed somehow far away on that Summers day,

and it still is that yesterday
where children play
and mothers watch
like brooding hens

somewhere.

Queen for a day.
Prisoner for life.
Her 'crimes':
New mother and wife;
A woman of color
Thinking for herself;
Just leave her be, please,
Lest history repeat itself.

Single mother's eyes
Wells of tears, wishful prayers
Same blues as her child's.

to decline

to say no, or even to fail softly with a sloping line

with b lead pencil

tapering off into dots repeated



the fall is abrupt and possibly dramatic

related to weight & gravity



like a





thick black ink line ruled sharply down

ending with an abrupt grand splatter



unless we are talking of autumn the gold

time which comes gentler with occasional winds

and related sweeping



autumn comes softly so

we fall