Regional President, Denny Owen, challenged club members to write a poem or some prose on the subject of Domestic Violence. The winners were announced at the President’s Day held on 8th April and we are pleased to publish this moving poem by Jane Pickering, which was awarded 3rd Prize.
Footsteps
A girl alone waits for the sound of footsteps
Climbing stairs up to her home.
The sound is a foretelling and everyone knows to listen.
Quick and light
Light steps are lovely
Quick steps are friendly and fun, a good night beckons and lingers.
Stories, laughter, music, a basket full of fruits
A horse has won, there’s money.
This evening is free from regret, from the demon disappointment.
From revenge on an innocent.
But slow and heavy,
The devil lies in slow and heavy steps.
Dread seeps deeply, past her bones, as they approach.
The girl feigns escape, hides within a book.
But the explosion of anger and regret will happen.
There is no sanctuary or escape.
Loud, angry words, packed with regret and blame, spew out
The Noise deafens, crescendos, pummels.
The threat of lost control hovers…
Until beer-fuelled rage retires, spent.
It’s only words,
But words break more than bones.
Remorse looms like a shadow in the morning
The girl drifts to school before her father wakes.
School. Her version of normality.
Relief is short-lived.
At her homecoming, remorse has had time to bite.
His eyes beg forgiveness
For another unpardonable theft.
It’s given, as always.
Game set and match to love.