An incorrigible hag
engages my loneliness –
like an assassin sniffing out
any scent of vulnerability
I am lowering standards
this history of imprisonment
enabling inappropriate openings
I cry for new perspective
ponder after boundaries
intending to defend
Like an unwanted bullseye
I am pursued on repeat
malice considering me
a problem to be solved
Who is this old woman
whose thoughts are daggers
who calls upon predators
to devour my freedom?
And what ancestral legacy
sets me on such tenuous ground
entrusts the key to my soul
to such devilish factions?
I strike out and miss
am twice thwarted
but refuse to submit
Have espied the resources within
will defeat the infernal voices
and confront the witch
Wits calculating
confidence a repellent
teetering on the edge of victimhood
not a path I care to repeat.
(Ink sketch my own)
One Woman's Quest 