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.
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
Thank you for your comment Mark.
Thank you.
Hi. Of course. Thank you for being here.
Will take my time to read and appreciate this poem.A bit busy now.
Striking, the description of the pain under the facade of religion. There are so many instances of this. Sadly so.
Beautiful capturing work that touches the heart.
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!
Honoured for this representation and powerful vehicle
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.