Poem: "The Victim"

I am sharing some of my poetry for National Poetry Month. This one, in a villanelle form is a very different tone from yesterday.

The Victim

The emptiness rings behind her back,
The tilted street shines black and wet with rain,
She waits and waits and waits for attack.

Fear seeps into her mind through every crack,
And soaks her every thought and move with pain,
The emptiness rings behind her back.

She wonders what she has that he lacks,
And what on earth he hopes to gain,
She waits and waits and waits for attack.

She knows she hears the heavy footsteps clack
That always echo monotonous, loud and plain.
The emptiness rings behind her back.

She thinks of good and warmth and tries to black
Out the frozen memory that has stained
Her mind and heart and soul and face and back.

Any moment she'll feel the familiar whack,
Sprawling her on the floor or street again,
The emptiness rings behind her back.
She waits and waits for the typical attack.

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© 1988 - Scott Lawrence Lawson