Stephen,
I genuinely appreciate your comment. The experience
drew me in, and the occurrence on which this is based
(the awareness, I should say) caught me very much by
surprise. Your comment references differences. I sense
that hidden differences are present all the time. What
I was learning today was the miracle of how two very
different sets of experience, themselves hidden, might
yield very similar behavior. Perhaps totally without
causal linkage, but surely correlation's rearing its
head.
I cannot imagine the horror of the mass betrayal that
our fellow humans overseas in that war-torn area
experience on a constant basis. And the two kinds of
experience are fundamentally crucifying to the spirit,
I am sure. How it is that some survive is utterly
beyond me. That said, the mind's power, and the
heart's kindred strength, are so amazing in some
people.
Thank you, Sheila
--- Stephen Vincent <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi Sheila: This one seems to come from real deep
> ground. Moving.
>
> Makes me ask what is the difference between domestic
> violence and abuse
> As different from what is inflicted on say children
> in Iraq undoubtedly
> every day. Does it make it easier to have and suffer
> from a defined enemy
> rather than that what is suffered through incestuous
> betrayal.
> Obviously I have gone off on a tangent. A
> characteristic of how I read!
> Additionally this one does not engage me so much
> formally - as much of your
> work - but the story, the weight, suspends that
> interest or is it
> requirement?
> Thanks for bringing this one up.
>
> Stephen V
>
>
> > Across from me she wears her eyes
> > a calmer blue than blue that speaks
> > a clean blade that reflexively
> > takes care of everything in the way;
> > she talks a quiet trusting talk,
> >
> > I hear the generations mildew
> > by the wayside when she lets the layers
> > slip and there before me is a better family
> > portrait than before, a child of three
> > when I was twenty-one. Now she is
> > beautiful and knowing, and I cannot help
> > my awe at her escape from branding
> > deep into the psyche all the scars of
> > either/or mentality, those bedfellows
> > we shared, I cannot help the humbling feeling
> > that protection I was given and resented
> > was protection, nonetheless, that I was loved
> > with layers around me, that I was kept safe,
> > if not from hurt, at least,
> > from being broken to the point
> > of never being wanted anymore,
> >
> > but she is stronger, having been
> > taken by surprise, but more than that,
> > betrayed, by people who would rather
> > brush away the crumbs, the shells,
> > the friendly fire itself, and say
> > it never happened, excuse
> > manchild of forty-some for scarring
> > this girl of fourteen who should have after all
> > acquired the faculty of forgetting by this time,
> >
> > but she is sharp as the division between
> > health and every tired commitment to degrade,
> > for one can always count on degradation
> > to be right, if not now, later, when
> > amnesia starts the slow progression
> > of contagion, and the bonds that make no sense
> > between those bludgeoned in common
> > far transcend the bonds between oneself
> > and one's own flesh,
> >
> > the child who never knew her youth,
> > who had to find it later on, when everything
> > around her might be safe, and she could hope
> > if not believe, that someone she had found
> > might be a father or a safer uncle
> > than she had, and people might be taught
> > to know the truth and even speak it.
> >
> >
> > sheila e. murphy
>
>
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