At what age is privacy a right? a voice silenced

Write, write, write. It can save your life. You don’t need lessons, just pour out your thoughts and your pain. But only when it is safe to do so. 

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“What man art thou that, thus bescreened in night, so stumblest on my counsel?” – William Shakespeare

“Privacy is not something that I’m merely entitled to, it’s an absolute prerequisite. – Marlon Brando

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At what age is privacy a right? a voice silenced

Years ago

I saw a painting

the rolling stone

of damnation 

the agony

of the wicked

said to be

eternal

I heard the story

but knew

I had been there

before

*

like childhood

the pain – eternal

escape beyond reach

attempts to record –

purged, destroyed 

that was before

marriage

from the frying pan

to the inferno

from there it

became worse

he too a victim

his choices were

different

i remained silent

*

there is nothing

that can prepare you

for the death of a child

they say the loss of a spouse

comes close

but I was the one to run

from him – yet I

rendered silent

no one – no where

to confide

*

decades of pain lodged deep

its daggers

surfacing briefly

clawing at the heart

tearing the eyes

haunting dreams

exorcism futile

until all dreams vanish

*

reclamation

can be found even

when we think we

are not looking

with hope discarded

mine came from

pen and paper

slowly, guardedly

at first a cautious

re-introduction

cached from critical eyes

*

floodgates ruptured

denial of the past

no longer buried

writing the crucial key

long ago abandoned

 confession at ones peril

without the sanctity of

confidentiality

the words are mine

words – sacrosanct

freedom – unconditional

now – with conviction

my words flow free

*

bisous,

léa