Grass

She woke up in the morning, to find an empty pillow where he laid.
Went down and drank a coffee, then finished off the other one she'd made.
She hadn't put the bins out, cos' that was something that he used to do.
The cat was looking hungry, and she remembered how he always fed that too.

The house was looking empty, it had been their happy home.
The baby would be coming soon, she would no longer be alone.

She'd begged him not to join up, but he'd said: "babe there's no other way... I'm not working in the chip shop, but we still have bills to pay."

She loved how he was gentle, she loved how he was calm.
She loved the way, that every day, he'd never cause her harm.

When he had come home from the war, somehow, he had changed.
Somehow her gentle hero, was different, rearranged.

He'd always go out drinking, always left her behind.
She didn't mind, she thought he'd find, a way to calm his mind.

When she told him she was pregnant, he accused her of an affair, cos' in his mind, his rage was blind, he thought he wasn't there.

She'd taken the first beating, as if it was her place.
The next day he asked the question, what happened to your face?

The nightmares kept on coming, along with beatings too.
Her man had changed, become deranged, no more the man she knew.

She was a student chemist, and had access to some stuff,
At first she tried to calm him, but he was still getting rough.

The nights where getting worse now, days long and painful with him there.
She loved him but, she had to find a way out from despair.

Last night as they ate dinner, she slipped poison in his wine,
He fell asleep, to never wake, and now she would be fine.

Her joy was given back to her, the day her child was born,
and now and then they'd go outside, to play with daddy on the lawn.

He's sleeping still, and always will.

He's calm at last, beneath the grass.