What is cruelty
says the man with the whip
says the man with the chains
says the man with the biggest gun and longest lead.
What is it
he demands once again
believing his thoughts and turmoil over cruelty
is enough suffering for today
and it will stop as such
at just his word
at just his want
he’ll hold his pride as he walks away
Is this cruelty
asks the woman
at home, as always, as expected
holding a new babe
and plenty of papers
these papers are an agreement
yet it will feel like anything but.
They’ll fight for ownership
(and he will go home alone and happy)
and she’ll clutch that babe tight
tight enough for the state to believe
and one day
he will ask
Was I cruelty
as a fledgling adult
as a hurtful teen
as a young one
as a new babe
his words come in haste
in curiosity
in cruelty
yet she will always tell him:
No
his arrival may have been a shock
a harm
and to some, a murder
as she bled on the table
begging
for partnership
for family
for freedom
for mercy
for fairer cruelty
–his first moments alive
were her first dead–
but the idea of him was hers
even if he contributed at first
"your birth is not your burden, dear child,"
the unavoidable pains of your shine is no wound
at least one she will not hold dear
What was cruelty
was that ring, shiny, fake, ring
which turned her finger purple and blue
just like a wet sunset.
What was cruelty
was that hole in the wall of the white hall
of which he promised to fix
but left there, in laze or in warning.
What was cruelty
was the very notion
of claiming to love someone dearest
only to send them crying alone
only to send them crawling from bruises
only to send them away from you at last
a little more cold
and a little more cruel
than they would ever consider before
Your departure would've been a mercy.