Possession and freedom
The flames were warming as darkness closed in.
She fidgeted as she waited.
Tonight was her’s and she nervously rehearsed
the words of her hurt and harm and healing.
Settling, the group expectantly turned,
some yawned and others looked at her, waiting,
waiting for her.
Mary moved and motioned to her to begin,
It had been Joanna last night and tears
had been softly shed
like showers after a drought.
‘It started when I was 7,’ she whispered,
startling them all into silence, as she
a small frightened child again.
Mark held her hand as she tripped over the words,
“M my uncle came to s stay and insisted I
was to be skilled in calculus and science.”
My parents listened and agreed to
a short hour once a day
as a trial of my intelligence.
It started straight away.
He sat me on his lap
and gradually taught me
what some men desire
as well as diverse disciplines.
I said to my parents that
I wanted to stop studying.
I tried to tell them but words stuck
like a ship on a shifting sandbank.
My uncle said I was a natural
and so terror and torture went on, til
one day my brother joined our class and
for a while all was learning.
He started to take us to the square
and challenge us about commerce.
But sometimes my brother
could not come and, then
he took me to his friends
who taught me some more.
I lost my mind as I tried to forget,
I could no longer eat
I had nightmares and could no longer
sleep into forgetfulness,
I learned to mistrust,
I learned to lie,
I learned to hide myself,
Feelings in me were frozen,
I hated my own flesh.
Demons some call them
driving people to destruction,
As an excuse for deciding to
damage a child.
Powerful people in positions of trust.
Does nothing change?
Then one day lying on my bed at home,
longing for the grave,
He came to supper
and knew me.
He listened to me,
and unstuck memories,
and somehow after
He prayed for me,
feelings and tears,
friendship and love
flowed from Him,
and little by little
I found me.
