Retreating behind the
bars where I wish to hide my agonizing scars
Scars of pride bruised
by repeated victimization…. scaring my existence forever
Pushing me into
infinite darkness where I had sequestered myself in recriminating silence
A haunting silence which
questioned my birth as a girl
A girl who lost her
innocence when she didn’t even have breasts to flaunt
Victimized at every
phase … I searched for answers as to why I suffered so much
When I assumed I was
done…hurt was inflicted in new forms
Switching seamlessly
from copious tears to volcanic outpour, sometimes I tried to ignore
Ignore the steady
crescendo of insensitivity with defining machismo
The pathos couldn’t
stop the infesting worms parading their slight of mind
Slicing away my belief
and vulnerability…. experiencing men have been nightmares
Metamorphosizing me
into a defiant woman over the years
With a steely
determination to keep them at a safe distance
Yet the ‘nightmares’
continues in unfathomable and unwarranted forms
Still I am surviving
coalescing behind the bars…