A Victim of Divorce

She was divorced
When her oldest daughter
Was ten years old,
And for the next fifteen years
Lived as the innocent victim
Of that divorce.
She became a bitter person,
Subject to bouts
Of uncontrollable anger
And deep depression.
Her tirades against
Her former husband
Had alienated her children
And almost everyone else
She ever knew.
The only exception was
Her older sister,
Who refused to buy into
Her story of woe,
Or to react
To the way she acted.
When she received an invitation
To her oldest daughter’s wedding,
Her sister cut short her tantrum
And confronted her
On who she had been being
And what it was costing her.
In all probability
She would have destroyed that wedding
And any chance
She ever had
At reconciliation with her daughter.
With her sister’s help,
She was able to focus on
It being a day for her daughter,
And gave up haranguing the world
With her story.
A side of her no one had seen
For many years came out
And she ended up being
The life of the party.
That was the last anyone ever heard
Her talk to being a victim again.
She realized the cost,
And it was too great a price to pay.