The Explanation

Well then, thank you for
your genuine concern and 
your expressions of sympathy
without which I tend to forget
how I must appear, my face
distorted and bruised, a
tolerable facsimile of that of an
abused woman. You do ill
to entertain even a fleeting
thought that my husband was
the author of this story, for
he is the last man on Earth to
even think violence, much less
express it. I feel fine now,
thank you, my tumble down
a flight of stairs purely the
result of careless misadventure.
Concluding with my temple
colliding unavoidably with
the hard surface of a tile floor.
Shocking, yes, painful certainly,
temporarily disfiguring of
course, but I am now beyond
all of that, but for the battered
presence I still portray along
with the obligation to explain.