Shackles

‘When evil triumphs, it loses interest in its victim.’

The words carved on his father’s gravestone burn like a living fire. He avoids his past life. But, every few years he comes back to check whether the gravestone is still there, and the inscription still amazes people (though not the locals). Because evil is still going strong.

Sometimes, through no willing effort, he would dream of the stealthy touch of his mother’s hand. Beneath the table. It was just enough to wait until she dies to ‘honour’ his father’s memory. And, to bury her as far away from here as possible.

the wildest mountain
if only I catch the end
of a gossamer

By Mariola Grabowska