trigger warning for gender-based violence
When it is quiet
and the lights
are out, I whisper
“it was not your fault”
I repeat it
again
and
again
until
sometimes
I believe it.
Fake it
until
you make it
Right?
Activists are not supposed
to be victims
Gender-based violence
does not discriminate though.
Trauma does not adhere
to a timeline,
or your schedule.
It shows up
unannounced.
A violent explosion
Which rips apart your insides,
Planting a minefield of potential triggers.
Yet somehow
you keep on living
Because you have to.
You
are a survivor,
like so many women
before you
and so many after.