Millie (For My Grandmother)

Contributor: C.V. Ellis

- -
Life was never
easy for Mildred,
difficult an adjective
of insult.

Labored
obscurely
in conditions
darkly mundane
with a heaping
plate of misery
on the side.

Some would have
slipped into madness

But not her
not Millie
juxtaposed.

Survived on
a regimen of
Solitaire, puzzles,
Crosswords & Camels.

Possessed a
fragile strength,
endured disease,
perpetual pregnancy,
the burdens of
spousal folly,
payday dollars
poured into a glass.

She triumphed
in a losing cause.

Deserving far better
receiving much less
hers was the stuff of
heroic saga.

Her legacy was love.

She passed
in the night
ravaged by disease,
years of misuse...
silent heartbreak.

I stood in my
dress blues
sobbing
like a lost child
as her casket
slipped into
darkness

Saddened
by her loss,
sorry for her life,
for myself,
mystified by life's
cruel ironies

Grateful for
her newfound
peace.


- - -
Charles loves all things literary. He's a survivor of the machinations of insanity and holds a deep, abiding love for his family. Writing has been his salvation.