The Silence of Her Eyes

Much harder to bear Than the absence of words Was the silence of her eyes There were no shades of love In their depths No dawning light of recognition No glint of passion No pooling of pain In the form of tears Nothing... Her eyes had taken A vow of silence Unseeing Unfeeling Focused on the hospital wall And there he sat Dying beside her As psychologists came and went And the silence hung heavy On his heart He looked at her bandaged wrists His slit heart Still bleeding His thoughts still reeling Yesterday’s events still Fresh as her wounds His daughter’s screams Still filling his ears The sight of her In a pool of blood In the bathtub Unconscious Still replaying On the screen of his mind He sat by her bed Reached for her hand Felt nothing How long he had struggled To ease her troubled mind With his love The only sound That filled the room Was the sound of the wracking sobs That suddenly burst from his frame He buried his head in his arms Shutting out the pain Letting it all go As his tears soaked The hospital sheet Of her bed Movement…. He felt a hand on his head His hair moving To a familiar caress That now paralyzed him Could it be? He breathing ragged He slowly lifted his face Wiping his tears Hoping to see Hoping to hear A sign of life He eyes focused on her face His blood racing His heart hearing Her eyes speak... A lone tear Left the pool of her eyes Hung an eternity on her lashes And was unleashed Bringing with it a steam of others Released from her eyes A pool of deep love Shimmering, alive Recognition of a long lost time Dawning in her eyes Her eyes spoke Words of hope He smiled through his tears Gently moving onto her bed He gathered her in his arms Hoping she would hear The language of his heart The beating of love The language of his arms The shelter of love The nearness of his body The warmth of love He prayed she would hear She would believe She would understand His language of love Those very words He had heard Her eyes speak… Eileen Manassian Ghali