It surfaces some 10, 20, even 30 years afterwards,

Coming back, swirling through the soul like

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata,

rolling in like an insidious ocean-fog

at twilight.

Through unstable midnight-dreams,

it manifests during flashes of recollection,

spawned by a familiar sound,

a smell,

or the touch of a loved one.

Even bright, summery days haunts one's thoughts.

People, think her a little weird,

aloof, ya know, and uncaring like.

But she knows...

the conditioning of what not telling anyone brings.

Internal suffering that she holds close to her body,

draped around her like an over-sized paisley apron.

With strings attached, it beacons to her during those,

"when-I-beat-you-it's-for your-own-good" recalls.

Enuf!

Enuf!

Enuf!

Through God's divine mercy and grace,

birthing pains come.

She is relieved of  vortex-weights,

and begins taking baby steps,

walking freely,

escaping the complexities of a battered life...Oh!