Oh, craven shadow
Can you draw your eyes away
And fix your gaze?
Can you ignore that
In front of you?
A truth
In its fierce intensity
Demanding your attention
Refusing to go away.
The inevitable is finally
Leaking out
Of the locked box
You’ve squirrelled away
Oozing out
From cracks and crevices
To show you
Your enduring shame.
Oh, craven shadow
A cancer that has been eating
At your soul
Invisibly doing its damage
Your suit of armour helpless
As your rotting corpse
Decomposes
A stench proceeding you
Growing stronger
More noticeable
Each and every
Passing day.
And even though
You control the airways
And set a nation’s agenda
Some truths are too big
To be contained
And this truth is one
That must be told
Your slights of hand
Cannot distract from this day.
There must be consequences
For those that shamed
And also, what of justice
For those silenced
For the depravities
On bodies soiled
For those whose very souls
Have fragmented
Living quiet lives burdened
Lives full of shame
Tortured lives
Extinguished
Oh, craven shadow
Time for truth
Your truth
The victim’s truth
To finally have
Their day.
Viral petition reveals more than 500 allegations of sexual assault in Australian private schools – The Guardian
We have finally arrived at a moment in history where our nation is finally listening and if we are honest with our dismal track record and willing to do more than provide media friendly genuflections, we can change the culture of Australia and protect our daughters, sisters, mothers and others of assault and rape. It’s time to listen, be angry, and act with purpose.
Viral petition reveals more than 500 allegations of sexual assault in Australian private schools – The Guardian
Help me please to conquer my terror,
Let me sleep undisturbed until the dawn.
Listening intently at floorboards creaking,
Of staggering footsteps as the near my door.
Help me please to conquer my terror, Let me sleep undisturbed until the dawn. Listening intently at floorboards creaking, Of staggering footsteps as they near my door.
Knowing ultimately what comes next, Will shame me so completely, to my core. For the pain and anguish that will follow, To be locked up, put away forevermore.
Does my wretched life mean so little? Can you not hear beyond your walls? Please look at me. Save me. Why can’t you believe what I said before?
Does your inaction have any justification? Do you all not see me and my cause? My life destroyed. My future now uncertain. Please tell me, what’s my recourse?
The Spoken Word 