The Dreadful Tale Of Blanche Monnier Poem by Ishrat khan

Ages ago, I came across this disturbing tale of horror
Few of us know about the discovery of Blanche Monnier

A French beauty and affluent woman who attracted many wealthy suitor
Though being young, she had a liking for an older commoner

Her mother desired grand son in law and disliked her relationship
Blanche Monnier was too stubborn and set her heart on only marrying him

Her refusal to her mother's wish led her mother run her viciously
For falling in love with a penniless lawyer, she was punished by her own mother brutally

Her mother inhabited aggressive tendencies like an awful monster
Because of her love towards an older lawyer, she held her daughter captive from her capture

For 25 years, she was mentally abused in a tiny triangle lightless shaped home
She suffered the extreme psychological damage in the dark room alone

Her brother had no mercy nor interested in what her mother is doing
For she was the mistress of the house and considered too royal to be intervened

At that time, no one knew that she was kept in a secret attic aggrieved
'She disappeared mysteriously' was the statement made to be believed

Both mother and brother continued to live their life pretending and lying 'she's no more'
And the older lawyer unexpectedly later died with whom to get married monnier vowed

Her mother would recklessly give her to eat rotten, stale and dried leftovers
And sometimes tormented her to starve to be dead in the upstair cellar

There was not a bit of light or shade for it was astrociosly dark filled with rats and bugs
The only way to be released was to give up her love

Being headstrong in love, she didn't lose her courage at any cost
No one had a clue or none had questioned her sudden lost

When the anonymous letter was received about the Monnier truth by the police, their eyebrows were raised
They felt something wrong; got suspicious about the mystery and they forced their way

As soon as they reached upstair, the strong foul smell made officers realize that something is amiss
They found the padlocked shut and broke the locks to see horror laid within

They kicked into the attic, sensed an unbreathable odour and couldn't stand the filthy smell
Her nakedness covered in a dirty blanket, a spinster turned skeletal like a hell

She was completely malnourished; wieghed only 24 kg and hadn't seen daylight in 25 years
She led her life in a foul smelling rotten space with crust of her own excrement around that turned her condition severe

She lived her youth as imprisoned life in the darkness horrendously
When she was brought to sunlight she screamed and cried very wildly

Rolled into the dirt and her naked body hid under her lying hair
An attempt in an unthinkable way cannot be imagined or dared

To see her in this monstrous scenario, the police were shocked
They took her to hospital gracefully from the dreadful house

Spending her isolation in a caged room, she was no longer young before she was rescued
She borne the brunt of her mother's barbarity so much inside in the nude

When they interrogated Blanche mother she made a false claim that 'Monnier did this to her by herself,
She's mentally ill and violent in nature since younger years'

After Blanche liberation, her mother proved guilty of this heinous act but died Shortly inside the jail
And her brother was a lawyer so he protected himself possibly in all the ways

It was hugely ghastly crime and to prove her love she endured it all
Her true love vanished like a mist and ended inside a torturous wall

She barely got stuffs to eat. She survived great loss, loneliness and darkness within
There's a lesson we must learn from her life that, this lockdown like encaged life is comparatively nothing!