Just like that,

finally, a sign could cut you 

off of my life.

I thank the child

who could never be born 

“Due to your incompetence” 

His words, not doctor’s. 

Bitter evenings filled with silence 

felt better 

than the times

I wished you were silent. 

Next to you wasn’t my haven,

it’s a room full of strangers 

whose eyes were locked on me

palpable and cold…

Your constant complaints  

on the soap opera which I adored 

never stopped…

As for some reason, 

you kept on watching. 

“We fight all the time,

that’s marriage” 

If so, dearest mother-in-law,

Let me return what I bought from my dowry. 

“I don’t understand, I have never cheated” 

As you claimed, I realized that 

even a divorce could not change you 

after all these years…

Mother, though you said that

now I was a broken glass,

only sharp edges could cut, 

whoever comes to touch. 

By Pamoda Wijesinghe