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
