She

By Rita H. Chen

She screams,
Sound bouncing off walls
He raises his hand again
Ready to hurt,
Ready to injure,
Ready to punish

She cowers,
Blows raining on her
She huddles in a corner
Tries to shout,
Tries to cry
Tries to escape

She runs,
Body broken,
Her mind flees instead
It hides,
It replays,
It tricks

She reasons,
Rewinding thoughts like a cassette,
Erasing events from before
It wasn’t real,
It wasn’t meant,
It wasn’t wrong

She smiles,
Faith restored,
He had been right
She had been annoying,
She had been frustrating,
She had been at fault

Rita’s Musings: I am in no way, shape, or form advocating violence against women and I pray that no one is actually in such a situation. What I was trying to do with this poem was to capture the mindset of someone suffering from battered person syndrome. I hope this poem will at least raise awareness as to how our emotions can be both our greatest strength and our greatest weakness, and how we often seek to justify both our actions and the actions of the ones we love.