The Marks...

She uses her rag to ice the bruises from last night,
it was a horrible fight.
She walked in from a good night with the girls,
just a little too late,
and upon shutting the door
she walked into her fate.
He yelled, she screamed.
and his target was her face.
She tried to fight back,
but his strength dominated that place.
She cried.
Her eyes filled with tears.
It was only the first time,
I mean they argued before, but him hitting her never crossed her mind.
After they pulled and tugged
and she screamed in agony and pain.
He laid in bed and said, " I love you."
And she said, "I can't say the same."
He hit her one last time, for that last remark
and she laid there, until it was no longer dark.
When she woke the next morn,
he began to nurse her wounds.
She couldn't understand how he could change so soon.
Until one day she tried to leave because it was what she had to do.
The make-up could only cover so much,
there was not just a bruise on one eye but two.
She dried her tears and faced her fears
and then she left town.
No looking back.
He looked for her far and near, but
she could not be found.
Now...she's happily married who put back together the pieces of her heart,
and him? he's behind bars where he should have been from the start.
No man- or woman - should harm the one they claim to love
with such domestic abuse.
So now she tells her story to others about her love's misuse.
She warns women of the signs of control,
"Why are you wearing that dress?" "You don't need that hairstyle, why you trying to look the best?"
She tells her story,
and she counts her victories when she is able to see.
The look in women's eyes when they realize... "Hey, she's talking to me."

~BK