You Don’t Have to Tell Everybody Everything

Key moment: prompt

Photo by Kristina Flour on Unsplash

Seed will sprout in the scar. Though death is in the healing, it will heal.
Wendell Berry

She called me “Sista”.
Only I, she said, was kind to her.
Only I saw her as more than a pitiable joke —
a fifth wife
who’d last no longer than the others.

I shared a secret with my sista,
seeking absolution
for what I assured myself
was justifiable if not warranted,
weak, but who wouldn’t be?
Which is perhaps why my betrayal
seeded hers.

Now, a stranger,
no longer in the family while she is,
I thank Nemesis for her malevolent wisdom.
You don’t have to tell everyone
everything –

this is not being authentic.
It’s a succumbing
to possession
by neediness.
Trust must be cultivated, not scattered
like wildflower seeds over the ocean
in the hope the waves will sprout.