Her years of living downtrodden
Were over she’d decided
Careful where she’d once been carefree
Words measured to be sure
The desired reaction will occur.
So Eliza spoke slowly eyes darting
To the faces in the room
Gauging the changes that said
Enough now give it a rest!
Then she’d laugh at herself before them
And when they said she’d no idea
Her head nodded in agreement.
Inside she’d fade a little more
Fake fixed smile no sad face here
When she’s the clown after all.
So used to hearing “you’re crackers ”
It was a stock phrase used
If she dared offer an opinion
And avoided the darkness that lurked
Behind their smiles, their eyes
In their savage minds.
She knew what happened in the evening
If she over stepped her bounds
So much when it was someone else
Whose cries she would hear
She’d order the sound turned down.
Eliza was so used to this world
Where she had to tag along
She decided after a few more years
That she could disappear after all.
Managing a believable illness
Only see through to a few
She held the gossamer curtain in place
Until she left the world by fading away
Slowly over the years and when they stopped
Taking notice, and her every breath
Into account . Her last revenge
was to bring the curtain down.
Ailsa
©️AilsaCawleyPoetry 2018