RAPE, Nowhere Is Safe Haven

A hike in rape cases,

Even more in defilement cases,

Women and young girls grieve with pain,

When they recall all the ordeals even at homes.

Where they’re supposed to be protected by cultural norms

Here, It’s no longer a safe haven,

Some have survived, others opted for heaven,

You can’t leave your children under the care of relatives or neighbors,

That’s why many have entrusted foreigners,

And you ask why? I say simply because people tend to take advantage of the weak, disadvantaged,

And the underprivileged,

Some were raped and thrown into pit latrines, lifeless,

others were molested by even their teachers, careless,

Most rape and defiled victims are molested,

And neglected,

By close relatives or neighbors that we have come to trust with our whole hearts,

It hurts,

This is not only done to women who have become of age,

but also to minors who are yet to open the life’s page,

we hear stories of three years old,

and then five, six, eight, or 10 years old girls and adult women raped

and left to bleed out their lives,

Their perpetrators, all grown-ups, are roaming freely,

In the streets of the cities, towns, or villages, that’s terrible really!

nothing was done about it then,

nothing is being done today,

and it seems nothing will be done even tomorrow.

The future is bleak, sad, and hopeless, what a sorrow.

Now, most victims won’t report any more cases,

For they no longer trust society for being judgmental of rape cases.

Even trials take forever, and we know well that justice delayed is justice denied.

This poem is dedicated to all the young girls and women, adults and elderly women who have survived rape and suffered silently without justice.