I was thinking about Domestic Violence and how it continues in a cycle (men who grew up to see their fathers beat their mothers are less likely to see anything wrong in beating women etc) and the thoughts brought this poem titled CYCLE.
CYCLE OF VIOLENCE
I have chosen to speak
to lend the world my words
and let my voice be heard
loud and clear
Against the violence of silence
perpetrated against the ones we ought to hold so dear
causing them so much bodily and mental harm.
I sound the alarm,
that the cycles might be strengthened no longer
that our females may suffer no more
and that our wives and daughters may weep no more.
I choose to speak,
at the plight of children who witness their mothers being beaten and battered,
watching as her cloth is shred into tatters.
As she is stripped of her dignity and humanity
By the same man who once claimed to love her,
swearing an oath to honour and protect her.
But,
Now, his fist is her face's unworthy yet willing companion daily.
She sheds tears,
losing blood
not for man's ransom nor eucharistic communion.
She shed her blood,
her life,
dying in bits,
cowering and pleading,
while he beats her.
and she stays silent.
A victim,
and a perpetrator of the violence of silence
She stays,
keeping mute and enduring
for the sake of her
Son,
who now believes that the answer
to every female's daring questions and smart retort is a punch
and a kick.
Daily, his fragile human mind is being transformed
to that of a savage,
who thinks that the body of a woman is meant to be ravaged.
A victim of the vicious cycle
So for him I speak,
and for the sake of his younger sister,
in whose mind is etched the imagery of her father's savagery.
She hates men with a passion,
her life a lesson in delusions.
The words of her mother fill her ears,
"Men are bad,
they are the spawns of the devil
and in them is the seed of evil."
She knows not,
that not all men are brutes.
Even if to many you dare not ascribe the word cute.
She is a victim,
caught in the cycle strengthened by our silence.
And so for her I speak
against RAPE, domestic abuse and sexual harassment.
And I say
break this cycle
and STOP THE VIOLENCE NOW!
by
Osowe Gbenga
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