Shirley Jones-Luke’s most recent poem to appear here was “Orphan of Pride and Selfishness” (July 2018).
At Night
By Shirley Jones-Luke
Our father comes home.
We hide in the shadows of the house
We hide behind our mother’s body as she
shields us from father’s hand
Our father’s hand, a hammer
coming down on our mother’s form,
in the shadows of the house, we hide
our bodies, shielding ourselves
Our bodies are shields, we hide
behind the shadows of our mother’s
form, the house is home, until our father
comes and hammers us
Until our father comes home, we live
outside the shadows, laughing in the light
of our mother’s love, her shield for us
against the hammer
Unfortunately, many of us have lived this. Thank you for remindling us we are not the only ones. Hopefully, someday, this will end for the young and old out there that go through this.
Bravery to share this poem…bravery to write it.
My heart saddened to know a person having to
endure such a reality.
Powerful poem