I Know Your Secret

Hey Grandma, I know your secret
To be young and wild and free
I read your diary and see the gauntlet
I can see you screaming inside like a banshee
Long raven hair shines like mink
Eyes pale blue like mine
Youth and vibrancy completely in sync
Belle of the ball for all time
Your suitors were the pick of the town
Young beaus showed promise left and right
But your promised suitor let you down
Left you with a burden in the twilight
I imagine the fear you held inside
Every stigma haunting you and pressed for time
Your only shelter a man that could provide
Your choice in matrimony I can only divine
I wish you could forgive yourself
I don’t think you ever did
Please put your diary upon the shelf
You paid penance tenfold for the secrets you hid
Life is complicated and scandal is rife
We oftimes fail to hit the mark
Attempting damage control on our unmitigated strife
When left with ugly secrets in the dark
~Charlotte Greer Slater 7.5.11