When the World Would Prefer Silence

Submitted by Casey - a survivor


She speaks when the world

Would prefer silence

Words stumble

Over her tongue, teeth, lips

memories

Tears act as barriers

To both her speech and hearing

The world avoids emotions



Glares given because

she is the breaking

the cyclic silence

Generations old

do not help her pain



Sad eyes connecting to mouths

From which weighty “I’m sorry”s escape

Harming more than helping her

Eternally unable to take away

Or nullify

The violations of his hands

Unwanted, and wandering

the frozen body

Of a woman unsure of why

Her friend is betraying her

As her tears stream

And she whimpers in pain

A hand covers her mouth

From which noise escapes



The kisses neither he nor she

cared about end

As has his imminent touching ensues

He lowers her garments swiftly

And forces his entrance through

Her private gates



Deeply his hands penetrate

Carving swelling paths

To deeper pain

She is the victim of subterfuge

Lies awake

Her body is sleeping in shock

She manages to whisper “stop” into

The hand arresting her mouth



The perpetrator holds down her wrists

And presses himself hard on

Her weak and quiet body

As he speaks the words

“You’re okay”

Like the crimes committed

Were not meant “that way”

Silence overcomes

The pained whisperer

The subterfugist pins her down

And tears fall towards the ground

Silence is overcoming

As the dominant man heaves breaths

On the forced sub-missive’s face



The broken woman feign’s sleep

And the breaker moves away

It is the beginning of a second day

Of which the first never ended

And now pain overrides her

And she cannot speak

Of the atrocities he committed

which harmed her

For hours or more

After the havoc wreaking

Monster disappeared

From her bedroom floor



When the silence is broken

By a stuttering text

To a friend

Tears flowed again

Sent to somewhere safe to be

A place where words could escape

Without fear of increased

Induced pain



The silence is breaking

With each word escaping

Stumbling over her tongue, teeth, lips

And Memories of horrible

Atrocities



She speaks when the world

Would prefer she kept silent

Regretting the whispers

Of “This happened to me”

And wishing her heart could believe

Her mind as it screams

“What happened to me was not my fault”

“What happened to me was not my fault”

“What happened to me was not my fault”



.(Thanks to StaceyAnn Chin for inspiration in the last lines).