Tangled Locks

by Carmen Taggart

Tangled auburn locks shroud your face
Your shoulders collapse around you
Pain thick through the cabin

Delicate fingers trace invisible words across the page
Your face lites up as I offer you a rainbow assortment of pens
Quickly you withdraw back into your shell

Purple ink forms the curvy letters of girlhood
Words tumble with tears onto the page
Suffering between youth and adulthood rage

You rail of a double life one good, one bad
What could such a young girl have done so wrong
Sidelong I read it was sex

Memories unbidden march forth
remembering the longing to lie in my lover’s arms
remembering the shame and fear for having lain there

Unable to allow you to suffer alone I ask where you are traveling?
You say you are going to become an adult
I chuckle, oh honey I know so very few of those!

Voice choked you hand me the journal
Quietly I read then look deep in your eyes
I brake the taboos! I tell you we all have sex!

You clutch my hand hoping I am telling you the truth
Your eyes searching for validation
that you could yet be a good person

We talk of wanting to do it again
of the importance of seeking out protection
The mature thing is to be safe

I channel my mother and give you my email address
I tell you to please write if you need to talk
I will think of you often

We start off the plane
You turn and look at me through tangled auburn locks with tear filled eyes
We exclaim together

New beginnings!