The Quietest Power

She remembers the villa,
Those days in Manila,
Where her mother brooded at night.

Wide awake in her bed,
Sensing unknown dread,
A whisper of something not right.

Frantic searching around,
No mother was found,
She simply vanished one eve.

Though then a child,
Young, carefree and wild,
Things that she could not believe.

Events of that season,
Submerged for some reason,
She sets forth and makes her own way.

She trades in delight,
Offers love for the night,
Then recovers throughout the day.

Since that night she has grown,
And struck out on her own,
In a world where sin’s oh so rife.

With no father or brother,
No guardian or lover,
She balances on the edge of a knife.

With her beauty sublime,
Her company divine,
She soon becomes the talk of the town.

She finds a profession,
That requires some transgression,
And makes the gentle folk frown.

Now a high-class escort,
All her patrons report,
It’s Guineas she takes as pay.

Encouraging desires,
Lighting inner fires,
Men are fools, one might say.

Of her gentleman callers,
Those hard-drinking ballers,
Would gladly die to keep her safe.

Her still innocent eyes,
And her passionate cries,
Beguiling like some naïve waif.

But all is not well,
Though quite hard to tell,
She struggles in blackness each night.

Her nightmarish dreams,
Of unreachable gleams,
Portents of something not right.

The sad loss of her mother,
Still hurts like no other,
Tormenting her as it pleases.

One night without slumber,
Past days without number,
In a forest of whispering breezes.

She stands among trees,
And feels the chill breeze,
Of something far off in the night.

Although she’s an adult,
All her senses revolt,
A presence that gives birth to fright.

Through many long years,
Observing her fears,
Waiting for ripening fruit.

Now this is the time,
She’s turned out just fine,
Time for him to press his suit.

As he silently nears,
He senses her fears,
A young bud beginning to bloom.

With one simple word,
So small and absurd,
Announcing a forgotten doom.

He looks in her eyes,
He patiently sighs,
“Remember, my beautiful child!”