Delilah

her mother told her
she’d be the perfect wife
because they’d named
her Mary
and she was born
to nurture and to serve
her man

her mother hid her tears
when she said this
fearful of her husband
coming home at night
setting his little girl
upon his knee
putting her to bed
on his own
while she fretted
alone in the kitchen

when Mary played house
she set her baby doll
in the bed with her daddy doll
and mommy doll in the kitchen
alone with the gin and tonic
and the TV turned up loud
tuned to the Bold and the Beautiful
and her head filled
with thoughts of how
she could rescue Mary

but she did nothing
and now Mary has
a baby girl of her own
and she called her Delilah
because she was born
to tear the hair from her man
and steal his strength
and blind him

when Delilah plays house
she rips the arms
off Daddy doll
and buries him
alive

Reviews

[Doug]

Wow. I've just read a few of your poems and this is probably my favorite one. That is just beautiful writing, and I love how you don't exactly say what was going on, but you make us infer what the dad was doing. After reading this poem my jaw just dropped to the floor because it was such a beautiful poem, and then at the end it just feels like a stab in the heart. I mean, thinking of a child doing that, wow. Very impressive.

[Kris]

Oh my. I got shivers reading this one. This is a really strong write and it's heartbreaking to think how many such families there are, helpless mothers and victim children. A friend of mine had a really horrible past and she's writing an autobiography now, and there was this situation where she came to bed, as a little child, with her mother and her stepfather, barely out of jail. And he hugged her really tight. When they thought she was asleep, she heard him whisper to her mom "I'd love to f**k her right now." All her mother said was "Ah, stop it you."
So this really hits home. Well written with the doll house and the dolls; and thanks for sharing.

[Carlton Carr]

Thanks for τђє review and τђє relavent story. Τђє biggest tragedy perhaps, in these situations is how they affect τђє victim, of course, but also how they echoe through τђє life of τђє victim and touch all those around her or him. Personally I don't like τђє word 'victim' I would much rather use τђє word 'survivor'.

[Kris]

You're right, they're survivors; and 'inheritance' is the worst part, because as they say 'happy mothers have happy children'... But if Delilah lives up to her name, she needn't continue the chain of misfortune in the family. Once again, amazing piece.