rights

13.

i remember it so vividly -

how i cowered into my room at your command

and you threw my right to a meal

out the plate

and into the trash

that night

and many other nights too.

each was so long

and my body ached in hunger.

my childhood was filled with

countless times you tortured my right

to a safe living environment

with a scream and a fist;

push and a fall,

scream in the silence

as violence

filled the halls.

safety lay in pieces on the floor.

and your alcohol

was a closed zipper

across my right to speak.

my voice was hesitancy by definition.

even a whisper would be loud enough

to shake the walls of that house.

so I shut up

until that too, was a problem for you.

your fits even trampled my right

to an education

when you decided that

some days, the only person good enough to drive around

was yourself.

my teachers begged me

to see a doctor

because I was home sick so often.

too often to be true.

and you stole my freedom

and threw it into a slot machine

while I sat behind a lock

pretending I didn't know

where you had disappeared to

so early in the morning

only to arrive back past my bedtime.

that house catered for

oppression;

depression

whisked around like a careless breeze.

thank you for holding me back;

the tragedies of my rights

fuels my passion for them now -

for everyone.

even myself.

those walls are gone

I've broken them.

and our eyes don't meet anymore

I don't miss them.

but if they were to,

I'd hope my stare is powerful

and you'd realise

I am not quiet

anymore.

my poetry screams

of the mistreatment

and informs people

of how wrong it was.

may it do the same

for you.

🌱

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happy human rights day ♡