A Country of No Brides
Genesis remembers
the rape of Jacob's daughter
the man who defiled Dinah
only daughter, only sister
brothers Simeon and Levi
took up swords
slaughtered Shechem and a city of men
carried Dinah home.
small newspapers record the rapes
daughters, sisters, wives
the Soldiers, sons of mothers,
grab girls still full of song and rhyme
violate their sacred shape
throw the bloodied women away
infected with disease
wounded with pregnancy
until they cannot walk home.
where men revolt like monsters
instead of husbands and fathers
there is a country of no brides
Fear a woman's chore
as daily as carrying water
the dark mirror of the pail
reflects the blood from her nose
the blood round her ears
her body
strapped to a tree
torn and torn, as if she wasn't made
of flesh and memory.
Simeon and Levi
a country of women weep
broken sobs in abandoned beauty
your sisters cannot walk home.
Genesis remembers
the rape of Jacob's daughter
the man who defiled Dinah
only daughter, only sister
brothers Simeon and Levi
took up swords
slaughtered Shechem and a city of men
carried Dinah home.
small newspapers record the rapes
daughters, sisters, wives
the Soldiers, sons of mothers,
grab girls still full of song and rhyme
violate their sacred shape
throw the bloodied women away
infected with disease
wounded with pregnancy
until they cannot walk home.
where men revolt like monsters
instead of husbands and fathers
there is a country of no brides
Fear a woman's chore
as daily as carrying water
the dark mirror of the pail
reflects the blood from her nose
the blood round her ears
her body
strapped to a tree
torn and torn, as if she wasn't made
of flesh and memory.
Simeon and Levi
a country of women weep
broken sobs in abandoned beauty
your sisters cannot walk home.