Poem for the Hidden Qualities contest. Inspired by the work of [link]

THIS PICTURE IS NOT MY ORIGINAL WORK. DO NOT COMMENT ON THIS PICTURE. IF YOU HAVE CRITIQUES OF THE PICTURE, PLEASE SEE THE ORIGINAL @ [link]

EDIT: This is a revised poem I submitted, after being inspired by this picture. I wrote the poem, and then found this picture, it seemed to speak to me and I had to really sit down and try to talk myself from attaching it. In the end, I failed. The following poem is written to express the feelings of marriages that don't always work as planned. I'll leave it to your imagination if it's the "tramp/stray" she married, or if it was someone else.



A Woman’s Reasons

Borne at night with a silver spoon in hand,
Fortunes lost by the day when she could stand.
Her family was thrown down in disgrace,
Stuck fast between a rock and a hard place.
Her destiny changed on one fateful day,
When our lady meets a lovable stray.
Mortal enemies yet friends for ages,
Taunts and teases turn to love in stages,
Likened to the air and the breath that flows,
Eyes full of wonder and mouths full of prose.
Knowing that she could no longer pretend,
All good things must come to a bitter end.
Her weary life was not a carefree thing,
But could be placed aside with vow and ring,
Joined together with one who provided,
Her hopes and dreams were lost and misguided.
It took our lady awhile to convince,
Fairytale ends have no fairytale prince.
From his cold gaze she should have quickly known,
Her happy life was no longer her own.
She knew it would be stupid to resist,
He was a man who loved best with his fist.
Her tattered plea was silent to his ears,
And now to come was the worst of her fears.
His drunken hands had found her face again,
This time it was to be his last and when,
She looked up and found herself on her feet,
Her fearful heart pounding with every beat.
She's leaving her lover fast as she can,
Winds of change have shifted destiny’s plan,
No longer captive of his heavy hand,
Slipping through his fingers like grains of sand.
This life was no life for one to have led,
There's no doubt or wonder for why she fled.
Her grim struggle has found her footprints here,
Pain evident through paper-thin veneer.
Her silent torture over with that night,
Ending with her redemption and her flight.
Now the tides have turned for many seasons,
A woman's journey; a woman's reasons,
Memories forgotten like whispers of wind,
And no one can say that she's truly sinned.