For Lisbeth... Poem by RIC BASTASA

she surrenders finally
to the hands of marriage
forgetting finally her
disappointing struggles with
books and
peers and scales and
a litany of human cases
and supreme court decisions on the matter

'what is justice all about? ' her first question
who dares an answer that satiates her thirst for it?

no one.

the legal room finally ejects her
she is a plate of vomit

and she ultimately confesses
she misses
those nooks where people are
too serious

to be really true to themselves
for they must appear
like dead pillars
unswayed

to discomfort and
unconvinced about the power
of emotions
those flitting feelings are not
welcome here
sorry
so sorry to tell her that
she who cries
and grieves
and says this is a cruel world
where the fittest
too shall suffer

this is where people become stuffed animals
honored somehow for their
sacrifices
their frozen sweat and tears

eyes have no time for blinking
people's minds are sculpted
to objectivity
like stone or marble slabs
into pieces
of davids

she goes back to the door of the family
enters it and locks the door behind her
it is raining that time
and people have to shout to be heard

hugs her two kids
her mirror to her new world
a confirmation of her untapped genius
what a flattery!

I'll make a lie and tell her
you finally find bliss!

deep within me i am not at all impressed
this is the best world i got
and she is never a part of it

i will let her think
about something that makes her happy

i will not let her ask
if i am telling the truth

i don't have the time
neither does she.