A Square of Silk

When I was small, I loved to hear my mother sing It's int'resting, the things that we repress Today, I can't recall a verse, I just recall the lies We'd been estranged for years when I learned she had died and I arranged to see her only then My childhood home was full of ghosts and boogiemen Would they rise from the box she'd put aside? Just wedding photos. Nice surprise, it could have been much worse A smiling bride. What writhed beneath, no one could guess She'd held my father hostage with that ring She left to me the house, this box and one more thing - a square of silk cut from her wedding dress I pull it, folded, from my purse and with it, dab my eyes, then lay it in the box, which I close tight to hide my troubled memories away again