AND IT CAME TO BE...

Husband too often gone
loneliness ate at her sides
it ate at her heart and her lungs
til she thought she'd explode
from the emptiness

So she went out into the night
her heartache-wrapped cloak pulled tight
and she walked the streets
and she sought in the bars
and roamed the forests and meadows
til exhaustion caused her to collapse
under a huge pine

Out of the dreaming dark he came
shadow and mist aswirling
and for a short time
he held her and comforted her
and chased the loneliness away

In the dawn she awoke alone
fog and mist evaporating in the sun
yet this day she felt different
something stirred within her
something growing in her womb
and she knew she'd never
be alone again

But neighbors talked
and whispered behind closed doors
mother and her special child
were never...quite...
accepted...