Thirty more days
And you’ll be gone again
Just thirty days
Four weeks
Seven hundred and twenty hours
And too many seconds
Fleeting too fast

It took thirty days to fall
And sixty days of hopeless wishing
To bring you back home safely
Only so you could leave me again
And you always would
And you always will
Leave me again
And again
And again

It took thirty days
To make something live
All so we could watch it die
And you could walk away
Unaffected
Untouched.

I believe in a world where people understand ****, and not just when it's forceable.

I believe in a world where children can play outside with out their parents watching every move, and not fear being kidnapped.

I believe in a world where women are no longer afraid to walk home alone at night, or to their cars by themselves, simply because they're women.

I believe in a world where young girls aren't taken advantage of at parties just so that it can be blamed on the fact that, "they were drunk"

I believe in a world with out ruffies.

I believe in a world where no one justifies **** as "Well she was asking for it"

I believe in a world where women can wear whatever they want and won't be attacked for it.

I believe in a world where women don't have to sell their bodies for money.

I believe in a world with out forced prostitution or human trafficking.

I believe in a world where women can trust men, and there bodies won't be broken.

I believe in a world where women and children are safe.

I believe in a world where little girls and boys can grow up with out being molested.

I believe in a world with harsher punishment for rapists and child molesters.

I believe in a world where harmful **** kits aren't necessary because a victim's statement is valid evidence.

I believe in a world with out gang rapes.

I believe in a world with out brutal **** videos and child *******.

I believe in a where women are allowed to be powerful and own their birthrights.

I believe in a world where women and homosexuals are no longer held down by ****** violence.

I believe in a world where women in the military aren't *****.

I believe in a world with out South African **** camps for lesbians.

I believe in a world where men and women aren't ***** for being gay.

I believe in a world where women can negotiate ****** use, regardless of the country or situation.

I believe in a world where women can negotiate when and who they have *** with.

I believe in a world where women have choice.

I believe in a world where ****** assault is considered a hate crime.

I believe in a world with safe homes for victims of ****** violence.

I believe in a world where women can establish community and a voice for themselves.

I believe in a world where that voice will be heard.

I believe in a world where women and victims no longer live in shame.

I believe in a world where women are free and accepted as leaders.

I believe in a world with out ****** violence.

I believe that it can happen, and that we together can make a positive change for our community, wherever it may be.

I read the page before me and I stopped,
Breathing, thinking, even being
For a moment
I put it down and paced,
Back and forth in my room
Swallowing back tears
I sit with hand over mouth

These stories cannot be true,
And this cannot be history
No,
No,
No,
I plead with what has already become,
Do not let this horror be real

Women and children
All shapes and all sizes
With different histories
Colors,
Mothers and fathers
Beaten ******
*****, tortured, and humiliated
Left to die
By not just one,
But many men

I would
Lay down in the street,
And die like a dog
To stop these hearts from breaking
And their bruised legs from shaking
I would scream out in desperation
And seek revenge on the devil
To protect the victims
Because I am a victim,
And to raise up the little voices,
Because I too once had a little voice

I would make them sorry
For what they did
And the fear they caused
To the small ones
And the vulnerable ones

I would bleed out every drop of blood
Hold the weak and the trembling
Fight until breath
Could no longer fill my lungs
To end it
And I will

The song begins to play
and I give in to its gentle melody,
I sway in time and tune
and become one with the sound,
with every beat,
ping,
tap,
and crash of the percussion

I become alive,
as I slide,
lift,
rise,
and spin through the room
A tiny dancer
and a perfect pirouette

I become one with the sound
and I let it carry,
my soft strong body
across the wooden floor,
that responds to my dance,
with creeks and cracks

The emptiness solidifies,
as I dance through it,
I cut it like a knife
I am the weapon
and music is the crime

We make love,
he holds me and I am his,
only for a moment
until the record skips
and the chorus breaks
I float over the notes,
like a dove
It is the wind that guides me home
and I keep it warm beneath my wings

My body is not broken,
It works just fine,
with me
and with that holy music
Oh, my savior
my grace
and the life that's trapped within me
is that sweet, sweet sound