how many of us begin. if i tell you this story, you mustn't tell anyone else. how many of our lives' best-guess and odds-down moments haunt the corners of our minds? ghost secrets. like bad women. their silence heavy. crucifying. these aren't the dog days. the dumb days. the poisoned drug days of our youths when we could hide in dark rooms. stuck still. and still run with or without witnesses. to pretend. these are the days when treading on sacred ground rips limbs from limb soundly. without effort. where we rock and wail. rock. and wail. the unforgiven. we. and we don't need eyes or ears or lips to see. that what we've not said. oh lord mother have mercy. what we've not said we've seen. oh lord. oh mother. mercy. me.