by Yandisa Sobahle
She turned a blind eye
She pretended she could not see
Till this day, I do not understand what wrong I did
I simply told someone I trusted what had happened to me
Never had I imagined that my cousin would turn against me and see a woman in me
Never had I imagined that my own blood would hurt me like that
Scarred me for life
I am left with scars
Why do we keep quiet and let these men do as they please?
No one warned me that a rapist doesn’t have to be a stranger to be legitimate.
Why must things not be spoken of because they are family?
What bond is greater between a Mother and child or her family members?
And we are left with the scars being betrayed by men we know. Unlike the stranger we always thought it would be.
The stranger that never showed up. I did not sign up for this, to be violated in the house I called home. I always thought that the bond a mother has with her child/ren should be everlasting, through good and bad like a union only broken by death.
Little did I know that the woman who bore me, brought me to life would choose her nephew and family over me. So, you tell me how far a mother would go to protect her child?
Why are women quiet, why do they submit to men so much that they would rather lose a child than have people know what is happening behind closed doors? Some would even die behind closed doors for what they call love.
