Yearning for Freedom

Were it merely adding a few concubines to the harem
Or joining several willing hearts
To a connubial orgy
Were it only the pluralism,
The multiple partners,
Accompanied by the sad plight of necessity
All this, I could consider
Religion
…………………… Legalism
…………………………………………………… Folly

If never a little girl
was wounded
Forced to conjoin
Bred to likewise breed
Robbed of value or purpose
Caged and beaten like a dumb beast.

Sacred defiling

If never a little boy
Was marinated
In hate and lies
In suspicion, and savage misogyny
Stewed in corruption
Until competitive fear seals his exile

Sacrilege sanctified

If never a mother
Was manipulated
Pummeled to submission
By husbands, or wives with seniority
Doling out intimacy like a duty
Between laundry day and Sunday service

Sacrosanct perversion

If never a family
Was made inferior
Not worth supporting, indentured by their betters
Held under the fear of stolen children
Granted to a more worthy mother
Spirited away without a warning

Sanctimonious maleficence

If no innocent one ever kept the horror
of a secret ceremony,
a sordid night,
in the dark bedchambers
of her nightmares,
I could tolerate
So much that I don’t agree with.
I could uphold freedoms
I could shake a fist at judges,
If no victim ever
Fled
…………… called
……………………………………… cried out.

(c) Tasha Chinnock 2008