The Red Card. Poem by Obrie Writes

A rope round her neck
As she hung on the broken hopes
Hopes of a world where she,
As a woman would stand.

The strong arms had held her firm
As it painfully went in and out.
None of the screams she made
Escaped the cloth in her mouth.

Who would she tell;
That her seal had been broken?
No one,
Except washing it down with tears.

'Pregnant and HIV positive'
Said the salary hungry nurse
And the gallant responsible
No mortal tracer could tell
Where his soul had been seen last.

Even the activist was a mere symbol
A symbol of noise for justice.
And the mother was too weak
To week to decide as a mother.
Poor Jessie now became
An object of dowry accumulation.

Her path in education dead,
Her life as a teen short-lived,
No courage to face the world
Behind the family house,
Her favourite play zone
Jessie found justice for herself
With a rope round her neck