Echoes In The Quiet (A Poetic Reflection On Survival, Silence And Strength) Poem by Ekeh Peace

She is lost in silence,
yet voices crowd every second
rejection's echo, a refrain that tells her she is unlovable.

All she's ever done is try to love herself,
and still the question comes:
why is life unfair,
why does nature keep sending people who hurt her,
what did she do to be chosen by players who treat her heart like a game?

The echoes are loud.
Her spirit hears them too:
at ten years old, two young, huge men raped her, pressed hands over her pleas. They told her,
_no one can hear you, no one can help you_.
She shouted. No one came.
She went home; her parents flogged her without hearing the same plea.

She learned quiet.
It wasn't enough.

At sixteen, a pastor raped her, gave her gifts, threatened her
don't talk, I have a color to protect, or I'll deal with you...
She craved only peace, only love.
Relationships tossed her aside like trash, like a piece of shit.
She wonders whether she was ever meant to love or trust,
especially men.

Two years in a relationship with a man who already had a five-year partner;
she gave and gave, not knowing he had enough to give elsewhere.
When she became pregnant, he asked her to remove it.
She did, and when she discovered the other woman, she confronted him—he slapped her while she bled from the procedure.
Over and over: love given, love withheld.

Still she trusts,
still she loves,
still she cares,
still she respects,
still she believes -
not because she's naive, but because she refuses to make others pay for the echoes.

They leave her life, only to return months later and apologize, after making her feel like the problem, like a piece of shit.

Now she is quiet,
sensitive,
observant -
listening not for apologies that never come,
but for a sliver of peace she might finally keep.

Poem Written by ©Ekeh Peace