THE BALLAD OF THE HANGED WOMAN
- Jun 26
- 1 min read
By Simona Volpe
There's no one here at night
Only the wind that shakes my body
I have only my sad story to recall
You, alas, have many macabre tales to tell.
Sometimes you come back here,
To that tree in the woods,
Where my forgotten corpse swings,
Innocent prey of your misdeeds.
As you walk in the woods, I watch you
With my empty, blind eyes
That look painfully into the past
As I think back on my unfortunate life.
I was born close and familiar to death
I saw women weep over my mother's body
I grew like a weed among the roses
Because I tasted the brutality of men.
You came from the woods like wolves.
I didn't see the trail of blood that followed you
With honeyed words you bewitched me
While secretly you gnashed your teeth.
With bitter words you poisoned my mind
And your indifferent gaze helped me
To tighten the noose around my neck
While your hands pushed me into the void.
Now in the night you hear a ghostly noise
That you confuse in the mists of wine.
But it's only the grim creaking
Of my cold body in the air.
Now only the trees hear my silent cries.
The ones you heard, the wind has scattered,
And the memory of time has confused them,
Weaving them in our forgotten screams.