KEPT WOMEN FREED

In Cleveland, Ohio,

Three women and a child freed….

From ten years cooped up

In some form of slavery.

–

Discussed on radio last night,*

A psychologist suggested

That time be sought for them to debrief

Without being media-molested.

–

“His wife”** went through similar things,

Nearly ten years of fright…

She didn’t know when she’d be attacked:

It would be outside at night.

–

For her it was an older kin

That kept her in chains…

But when her family found out,

They took extra special pains…

To shut the thing up

And keep it extra quiet,

As though by that it would go away

Not causing an internal riot.

–

Years and years of hurt

And questions within herself…

Were left churning behind the mask,

Left throbbing on a shelf;

Not til she could leave home

Would the knot inside unravel,

Getting far away from the place

With threatened midnight travel.

–

The hurt and fear remain

And she’s tried to reconcile,

Being tortured for those ten long years

With a life that now brings a smile.

–

If there is introspection

To figure out their delayed lives,

These precious ones need protection…

And resolution like his wife’s.

–Jonathan Caswell

*Coast-to-Coast-AM…a little after 1 AM, on AM 580 WTAG.

**A real person, being protected.