The Last Flower Poem by Linda Marie Van Tassell

His hands descend,
smack against the skin
like fingerprints of pain.
The night sash of hatred
and the pockets of his vest
hide an army of madness.
No starry parlor is in his eyes.
No moon hangs in his sky.
He has no love,
and his hands flash
a black eye across the face
in moments of non compos mentis.
Thunderwords slay
my silent esteem
until I am nothing.
I crouch in the corner,
driven there by terror -
my only defiance
since I have no fists
to defend against his own.
Inchoate feelings of love
and muddled mayhem
slowly rise to the surface.
Still, I shrink away,
fearful of being alone.
The hands of time stop
as the lock of his elbow
crushes my windpipe.
Then, he tosses me aside
to sit in the mire
of his laughing eyes.
I shiver without crying,
as no tears are left me,
pounded into the dirt,
waiting yet.
The tap of his fingers
is like a hammer to my skull;
but I must find a way
to bridge the gap of madness,
to come to my senses.
His teethmarks upon my flesh
chatter of life, not death.
I am like Shiva - all arms -
as I fight back against him.
I have my own map of hell
and fight to find my way out.
Determination siphons anger
from the contours of my fear.
I halt on the chasm's brink,
looking over and staring
hate directly in the face.
I see him for what he is.
Water becomes wine
as I summon up the courage
to break free.
This transformation hides,
and something stays the same.
Yet, everything is changing.
I visit the old city of myself,
folding back the edges of
old letters where I once signed my name -
the name I was once so proud of.
The sorrow is that I am a waking vine,
dragged through the mud of his hate;
and yet, I am a microcosmic tide of strength.
Love never beat the morning as she opened her eyes,
and the sundry drops of rain never replaced my tears.
In between the shade and the soul,
there blossoms a light hidden by its own petals.
Love never closed her eyes in my dream;
and though she retreated into her shell,
Love never lost the last flower.
It was there - inside - moving towards discovery.