I don’t know why she decided to trust him once again,

He never was going to change; he had proved that once before.

She had found a way to deal with his madness

She had found a way to deal with her sadness.

But now I fear she has got it into her head

That all that matters is she’s lonely in her bed.

How lonely can you be?

To be blinded by his rage and insanity!

I hear her through our walls, talking to herself

Trying to convince herself that she is right.

What will it take for her to see

A human battered bag is what she’ll be.

But she knowsin her mind

That she has to be strong each time he is unkind

If she is going to survive

His outbursts and keep herself alive.

The dancing that had once kept her so sweet

And had men lifting her off her feet,

All those men who had once long admired her

Since he had come along, a self-important saboteur

They had gone!

They had left!

They left her one by one

Till he was the only one, a bruiser with a gun.

He didn’t want her to dance,

He just wanted her to feel so entranced.

So finally came the day when he got his way!

She no longer had a voice, no longer a say.

But inside her soul that floated high,

Her tormented voice did but cry.

She had taken to the stage,

Heavy with make-up on her once pretty face.

He watches in the wings, fingers cracking with

Impatience.

He wonders how he got saddled with her

And asks his God for a second chance to kill her.

She smiles at him through the mist

With the same thought in her mind,

A common ground they both will find.

What was so alluring on the stage

Now is on show for everyone, two souls in a cage.

She just danced until time ran out

He finally gets his wish, of that there is no doubt.

Ian D. Hall 

First published in Greyhound Tales.  Inspired by the instrumental piano piece by Mr. Tony Turrell.