She sits on a bench in the park

On a sunny day.

The grass is green,

And her hair is gray.

She pretends to read her paperback.

She has plenty of time on her hands,

Now that they put her husband away

In the penitentiary for good.

He used to send her out for tea

Or coffee or some other wild goose chase,

Probably to get her out of the house

While he raped their baby granddaughters.

Now she sees that. Now, too late.

She pretends to read,

But wonders alone,

How in the world she couldn’t have known

What was happening to them,

When it was exactly

What had been done to her

By her grandfather.

Too late she sees.

“Wake up, people!”

She makes her pleas to herself 

And anyone else

Who’s willing and able to listen.

-jenn