Life lines

Each line
a line that told a tale
first line, buried deep among the others
hard to recall when it showed up
could it be after the death of her mother...
second line crosses the first—
a half embrace
of that time when he left her
soon after her mother...
third line, intermingled with the fourth or fifth
perhaps even the sixth and seventh
for all those years
she raised the children on her own—
cried herself to sleep
hating the world that had struck her such a raw deal
how did her mother ever do it....
cannot count anymore after the tenth
all joined
interlinked
woven
a spider-web of lines
from peak-to-peak
crease to crevice
each line a tale
and what tales
if only she had the time to write them down
or tell someone
who cares...