No Safe Place

No Safe Place

by Glenda Beall

I check the locks, front door, glass doors downstairs.
I’m beginning to remember your ritual every night.
You, the man I trusted to keep us safe in this,
our house, our bed. With you slumbering beside me,
you’d hear what we should fear before I was aware.
You’d know what to do, and you would use a gun if necessary.
Your pistol still lies in the bedside drawer.
The old dog, hearing worse than mine,
snores on our bed. Awake, alone
at three a.m., I fear no stranger lurking in the dark.
No firearm, locks or barking dog can save me
from the endless grief that stalks me in this house.

Bio:

Founder of Coffee with the Poets and the Writers Circle, Glenda Beall is the author of Now Might As Well Be Then.  She lives in Hayesville, NC.