The women lie to themselves
about the bruises and broken bones,
the cuts and scrapes their
so called loving husbands give them.
And then they lie again about
what a good man he is while trying
to cover the bruises with makeup,
making up lame excuses
about why he did it,
but those are all lies too.
The little girls cower in fear when
daddy comes to their room
when mommy is away
and touches them in all the wrong places,
giving them scars that will never heal
and even though mommy knows,
she won't say
because she doesn't want her man
to beat her
or leave her
and take her little girls away,
but it's already too late for that
because they're gone
down that dark alley
and there's no returning for them.
The parents
killed their daughter.
Because they say she defiled
their family,
their religion.
Their God says stone her
she's only a woman,
and she blasphemed.
But the real blasphemy
is believing all that crap,
and murdering their own daughter,
their own flesh and blood,
whose only crime was to love a man
not of their religion.
Other women cry themselves
to sleep and have nightmares
about the men who violated them
again and again.
The men they picked out of the lineup
but who they couldn't prove actually
did rape them and who they are now afraid
will come after them
for telling the police,
for taking them to court ,
and they don't know
what to do,
where to go,
who to turn to because
the police can't help
and the courts can't help
and they whimper at every sound
that comes out of the dark to wake them,
and they shake with fear,
and they drown in their tears.
When is all the going to stop?
It is senseless.
There's no reason to treat our wives,
mothers,
sisters
and daughters like this.
We have to put an end to it.
We have to just stop.

Craig Allen
© June 2010

11/20/2011

Author's Note: I sometimes wonder if, because of the incredible amount of information with which we are daily bombarded, we have become numb and lost our sense of outrage at things like violence against women. I hope not.

Posted on 11/20/2011
Copyright © 2024 Craig Allen