Cowardly Lion

My heart aches,

Somber and still,

For all my sisters

Who were misunderstood,

Mistreated,

Unlived,

By those sworn to serve

And by those handpicked

To love.

How many times

Must a Black woman's cry

Echo through the marrow of a nation

That calls itself free?

Violence of any kind

Is unjustified,

But the kind that creeps

From cowardly lions

Dressed as kings

That kind is treason.

No man should ever feel safe

Raising his voice,

His hand,

His venom,

Against a woman,

Especially not in the light of day,

Where other men stand watching

Silent witnesses to her undoing.

If your ego is small,

If your heart is hollow,

If you must twist truth

To feel tall

You are not a man.

You are a shadow.

True men remember

They once dwelt

In a woman’s womb,

Nurtured by the same softness

They now forget to honor.

And so I say:

Second chances

To romance another,

To procreate,

To play God with love,

Should not come easy

To those who betray

The sacred womb

From which they came.

Let justice roar louder

Than your fear.

Let peace

Be the inheritance

Of every Black woman

Who still dares

To rise.