Nightmares

Life ended

and the nightmare began

when they came,

the so-called soldiers;

came and took her,

took and armed her,

armed and used her,

used and raped her.

Life began,

new possibility,

when she learned

a child she carried;

stirring in her womb,

crying at his birth,

nursing at her breast,

laughing at her side.

Life ended

in another nightmare.

Again came

the so-called soldiers;

though loved by her so dearly,

tormented by the children,

rejected by the village,

her young son went with them.

23 May 2011

University of the West Indies

Kingston, Jamaica