Sabrina Constance

The polysyllabic scribblings of an indulgent, long-winded craftswoman; an elegy to primal, substantive literature.

“COME SHADOWS TALL: The Fable of Thew and Oak and the Taking of Garden Rose”

(Verse 1)
Well Thew was lean, and Thew was mean,
Had a nose like a broken screen,
Came limpin’ down the Garden road,
With a smile that chilled your soul.

And close behind with feet like drums,
Came Oak with knuckles and gremlin lungs,
Big as barns and twice as dumb,
Chewin’ on a cattail thumb.

(Chorus)
Oh Thew and Oak, they come to stay,
Took our peace and made us pay,
Gold or grief, that’s what they said—
Feed us now, or we’ll take your dead.

(Verse 2)
The lawyer bowed, the baker cried,
The preacher prayed but his prayers died,
The rich folk filled a sack with coin,
The poor just shook, and braced their loins.

Oak would grunt and break a gate,
While Thew would talk of twisted fate,
They’d steal the kids from shanty rows,
And laugh while blood ran through the Rose.

(Chorus)
Yeah, Thew and Oak, cruel as frost,
Counted joy by what you lost,
Pay your dues, or lose your kin—
We’re hungry and we love your sin.

(Verse 3)
Now every night the bell would ring,
A baby’s cry, a mother’s scream,
They’d take the ones who had no shield,
While Garden Rose became the field.

They turned our peace into a curse,
Each bloom a grave, each prayer a verse,
And silence fell from dusk till dawn,
With all the little ones now gone.

(Chorus)
Oh Thew and Oak, they ruled with fear,
Drank our sorrow like homemade beer,
Gold buys time,” that’s what they spoke—
Or children feed the fire of Oak.

(Bridge – Slow it down)
But down by where the poppies grow,
A girl named Wren said, “Time to go.
She forged a blade from Garden steel,
And swore she’d make those devils kneel.

(Final Chorus – Double speed)
Now Thew and Oak, they met their match,
In firelight and rosewood scratch,
Wren struck true, and Oak went down—
Thew ran cryin’ outta town.

(Outro)
So if you hear a heavy step,
Or see the sky turn red and wet,
Lock your doors and guard your kin—
Thew might rise, and Oak again.

PART 3 – NO PERMISSION NEEDED: What Was Once Shame Has Become Pride

What began as innocent play, the joy of dressing up and pretending, soon curdled into confusion and punishment. My parents’ gentle corrections hardened into anger, their voices faltering with something more akin to unrelenting impatience. My pleas — small, wordless, desperate — were dismissed as misbehaviour. How could I have explained, at four or five…