The Price

Image: found at -http://whatmind.blogspot.com

The Shadow Man said:

"Bind yourself to me
and in exchange for the abuses
I will inflict upon you,

I shall give you jewels."

Her mind's eye wandered
over memories
and across future landscapes.

Her blood cells shook in
their recollected knowing
and anticipation.

Her ears filled with the voices
that had always secretly paid her way
on the currency of

Fear,

Worthlessness,

and Duty.

But,
finally,

finally
her heart had grown
big and strong enough through
the years of suffering
that it was able to embrace her
in her entirety with compassion
and a warrior's fortitude.

"No,"
she said,

Declaring herSelf
priceless.

And though she knew
the consequences would
lead to a death of sorts,

She could,
for the first time
since her first birth,

See the guardian angels
at her side.


(c) 2011-2013/Jamie K. Reaser

Published in "Note to Self: Poems for Changing the World from the Inside Out." (www.hiraethpress.com)