TOO POLITE

TOO POLITE

Try not to die of being too polite.
The Bible and my mother showed the way.
I only wanted to be a young wife.

I was taught that my beauty was my might.
I didn’t really ever learn to play.
Try not to die of being too polite.

It took some years before I gained clear sight.
First pair of glasses on my ninth birthday.
I only wanted to be a young wife.

A flash of memory: bared teeth and knife.
Pressed up against the counter, vision gray.
Try not to die of being too polite.

A list of ten rules showing wrong from right.
Souls in purgatory begged me to pray.
I only wanted to be a young wife.

And now, I sleep most peacefully at night,
Alone, in the soft bed for which I paid.
Try not to die of being too polite.
I only wanted to be a young wife.
___

The story of this poem: I grew up in a Catholic household in a conservative town. For a long time, I thought that the one correct life path was to be a wife and mother. Sometimes, it still surprises me that it never happened in my case, since it sounded so inevitable when I was growing up. 

The rhyme scheme is taken from the classic villanelle "Do not go gentle into that good night" by Dylan Thomas.

Thank you so much for reading my work.

See you next week.