Enslaved Poem by Marva Seaton

I look at her battered, bruised face
And she quickly looks away,
'I fell, ’ she responded,
to the unspoken question,
And yet she wouldn’t look my way.
Caught up in a situation of physical abuse,
why did she think she had to stay?
‘Leave him, ’ I told her,
And she pretended not to understand.
‘I fell, ’ she repeated,
trying to convince me,
trying to convince herself.
‘You don’t deserve this, ’
I told her.
‘He loves me, ’ she says.
‘No, ’ I tell her.
‘Love is not supposed to hurt.’
She nods her head as if she,
agrees with me,
And yet I wonder,
Does she really understand?