"I want to tell you" she whispered

his heart cooled in the

sudden ice of their bed

"dont get mad" she urged

she'd been only fourteen with

a married man then

her mother taking charge and

from a long way off something about

a clinic

but what got him, sucked the love from him

was the tears

that claim of continuing loss

she'd even given him a name

no guilt

he could have killed her