Two Abused Women: Poems by Charles R. Vermilyea Jr.

If Only I Had Known

An online obit with a photo.

Five years ago.

Blow-dried cloud around her head. Gone.

Hair now parted on right. Straight to shoulder.

Smile of simple trust, decency. Gone.

Only a grin. Cautious.

Survivors are few. Three brothers and families.

No husband surviving or “pre-deceased.”

She had — somehow — escaped him.

 Unworthy of her.

If only I had known.

Grandma Anna

Cyprus Hill Cemetery.

Brooklyn, New York.

You’re with him.

Sharing a stone.

Earth, Grass.

You spilt your blood.

On a street in Brooklyn.

And, that living inside you.

Gone, too.

What was the cause?

A final wound?

Did your four children ever know why?