Poetry

September 27, 2017 Poetry , POETRY / FICTION

Maranatha Pizarras photo

 

By

Jambiya

 

 

 

O Holy Night – “Katy’s Secret”

 

 

It was an ear-splitting slap.

Her head bounced off the wall and hit the floor with a thud

His dentures slipped to the corners of puffy lips

The stench of fermented mash all too familiar

 

Whack

Swish

Boom!

 

Ribs

Lip

Broken

Cracked

 

Size 12’s

Split soles

working boots

Worn and weary

Like the man.

 

Frills and polka dots were stained with bourbon and blood;

Her bruised blue eyes traced the coffee stains along the wall,

her ponytail yanked till her scalp bled –

The demure mother of 2 was dragged from kitchen to bedroom,

to be

a wife

 

Tring a ring

Tring a ring

Tring tring

Tring tring

 

The mail voice bleeped confidently –

 

“You have reached the home of Reverend Simons and his family. We are not available but please do leave your number………..”

Snores reverberate through whisky breath

 

Everything goes bump in the night

 

Broken

Broken

 

Reverend Simons and his family were broken.

 

Katy slips her battered body out of bed and limps to the study where she would prayerfully guard her sacred secret –

 

Pain split her head like a lightning bolt

But tomorrow was another day;

they would bind her wounds as they had always done for the past years….

conspirators of the same kind –

 

The dentist

The Doctor

The Reverend

 

Broken

 

some stories are best kept hidden –

for a broken home was better than no home at all.

 

Like Katy’s home.

 

In the upstairs bedroom 7 year-

old Melissa snuggled closer to her big sister –

“Don’t cry Mandy”, she whimpered, “I will pray for you, maybe God will send us help”.

 

The sun beckoned a new day;

 

Little Melissa places a single rose over her mother heart;

over Katy’s secret

 

The dentist, the doctor, the Reverend

and his congregation

lift their voice in praise –

 

***Nearer my God to Thee,

Though like a wanderer

the sun gone down

darkness comes over me –

my rest a stone;

yet in my dreams I’d be

nearer to Thee.

 

It was a Holy night

that took Katy’s life

 

 

***Nearer my God to Thee” is taken from a hymn written by Sarah Flower Adams.

“Katy’s Secret” is a work of fiction based upon real documented incidences.

 

 

 

 

 

Jambiya

Jambiya is an emotive South African writer; poet and storyteller who weaves the tragedy and victory of the human experience into a tapestry of memorable imagery and metaphor. She writes with honesty on the spiritual and social challenges of our time.

Jambiya’s works are a feast to those accustomed to the jaded perfunctory cleverness of modern wordsmiths.

Editor review

10 Comments

  1. Jambiya October 10, at 08:42

    Thank you everyone for your feedback and encouragement. I hope to see more of your presence as more of my works are published in this magazine. Much blessing Jambiya

    Reply
  2. Jambiya October 02, at 13:35

    Hi. Of course. Thank you for being here.

    Reply
  3. Somerset (Sommie) Morkel September 27, at 12:45

    Striking, the description of the pain under the facade of religion. There are so many instances of this. Sadly so.

    Reply
  4. Inelda September 27, at 11:53

    Beautiful capturing work that touches the heart.

    Reply
  5. Mark Volmink September 27, at 10:29

    A deep, painful and honest reflection. How many more women are suffering in silence under the pretence of a popular "priest"? Stop the violence! Stop the silence!

    Reply
  6. Jambiya September 27, at 08:56

    Honoured for this representation and powerful vehicle

    Reply
  7. Eddie Cyster September 27, at 08:14

    The writer Jambiya captures ones imagination and transports the reader to place that needs some thinking and introspection. It also captures those silent stories that are never told but everyone knows that it happens. It's offers the reader a soft landing though as it offers spiritual line to the story which I think is the foundation from which she writes.

    Reply

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