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When the marriage ends,  
and the child is still too small to understand  
what's been torn,  
why is it that the man tells his friends—  
"She was crazy."  
"She never got off her ***."  
"She was too emotional."  
"She never took care of the kids."  

And no one asks him,  
"Why did you stay?"  
Why did you have children with her?  
Why did you marry her in the first place?  
Why does she have full custody now?"  

No one dares to ask,  
because they already know.  

Men stay—  
for the comfort of control,  
for the invisible chains that bind women  
with babies,  
with promises that were never kept.  

They know,  
the way a child knows their mother’s touch  
but never her heart.  

The man knows his power in her silence,  
in her labor,  
in her sacrifices—  
the ones no one sees but her.  

And yet, when she walks away, they ask her,  
"Why did you stay so long?"  

Because they know the cost of leaving  
was more than she could afford.  

But still she walked.  

Still she left.  

Why did she stay?  

For the love she thought might change him.  
For the chance that maybe—just maybe—  
he’d become the man she believed in.  
For the hope that her children would have a father who cared.  

But he didn’t.  

He stayed because he knew—  
the house wouldn’t run without her.  
The kids wouldn’t be fed,  
the bills wouldn’t be paid,  
and the image of a family was more important than the truth.  

Men stay because it’s easier to claim a woman  
than to be the man they promised to be.  

And when she leaves, they don’t ask themselves,  
"Why couldn’t I be better?"  

They just ask,  
"Why did she stay so long?"
"The Unasked Questions" is a powerful exploration of the silent struggles women endure in challenging relationships, revealing the complex emotional landscape of marriage, separation, and societal judgment. Through raw, unflinching language, the poem exposes the systemic dynamics that trap women in cycles of sacrifice and silence, where men's narratives often overshadow women's lived experiences. Released during **National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month (TDVAM)** in February, it resonates with the theme of breaking free from control and reclaiming one's voice. The poem challenges reflexive blame placed on women by turning the lens on unasked questions—Why did he stay? Why did he have children? It dismantles convenient narratives while honoring the resilience of those who walk away despite overwhelming costs.
Jiāwén Liú Jan 25
In frigid shadows of a broken vow,
My heart, a prisoner, in silence cries.
Forced to yield, unseen chains bind me now,
Where love's cold absence breeds a storm that sighs.

She walks unburdened, draped in self-made light,
A queen unstained by tears my spirit weeps.
My yearnings mocked, a one-sided plight,
Betrayal's embers where true passion sleeps.

A barren wasteland, where our dreams lay slain,
Hope's fragile bud choked by a loveless rain.
My silent screams unheard, a whispered pain,
Lost in the darkness, love's deceptive chain.

Isolation's grip, a serpent's cold embrace,
Tightens around me, fueled by her cold grace.
I reach out, grasping for a fleeting trace,
Of the love we once shared, now displaced.

Invisible chains bind me to the past,
Memories haunt me, can't escape at last.
Like a ghost, I wander lost, outcast,
Trapped in a love that couldn't ever last.

Each link in the chain is a bitter regret,
Moments lost forever, I can't forget.
I'm shackled to a love I can't reset,
Tangled in a web of love and debt.

The weight of the chains bears down on my soul,
A heavy burden I can't control.
I long to break free, to finally be whole,
But the chains hold tight, taking their toll.

Unseen chains, invisible but strong,
Bind me to a love that's gone so wrong.
I'm trapped in a cycle, where I don't belong,
A prisoner of love's haunting song.

I search for a key to unlock the chains,
To free myself from these loveless pains.
But the chains remain, a reminder of stains,
Of a love lost in sorrowful refrains.

I long for freedom, for release from this plight,
To soar like a bird in the clear, free light.
To break these chains that bind me so tight,
And finally find peace in the still of night.

But until that day comes, I'll endure the pain,
Of living with these unseen chains.
Bound to a love that's left me drained,
Haunted by memories that still remain.

Unseen chains, a burden unseen,
A weight that crushes all my dreams.
But I'll keep on fighting, despite how it seems,
For one day, I'll break free from these loveless schemes.
This was written once I discovered that after 3 years of separation, I was in a loveless marriage.  She had forsaken and abandoned me but kept me around to do her bidding, the mundane things that some think that a husband is only good for.  Living in separate homes, paying for both.  I realized the worst, that it was irrevocably broken, unrepairable, but that I had been shackled to it.  This poem acknowledges that pain, suffering, and shame, and that I need to find an escape, no matter how painful and hurtful it became.
raahii Jan 21
काश हम उनसे मिले नहीं होते,
तो ना सहना पड़ता ये दूरियों का ग़म।
हालांकि वो अलग बात है कि
हमारे चेहरे पर फिर ये मुस्कान के पल ना होते।
The emotional conflict of love and separation, balancing regret, bittersweet memories, and the inevitability of loss.
Immortality Jan 18
Star loved moon,
and he did too.

They hated him,
but he never knew.

She shattered,
by their cold hand.

Who is at fault?
I was wrong,
you tried,
but I,
I was wrong.

I didn’t mean to,
but they willed us,
to fall apart.

Now the star’s heart is split,
half for the moon,
half for them.
At last, neither 'the moon' nor 'they' are as badly broken as 'the star' is.....
Maria Jan 6
Your mellow voice with fresh dew taste,
Your dark chocolate eyes with inviting look
Aren’t talking to me, aren’t looking at me.
Hence somebody else needs all that for good.

Our hands never touch each other.
We’ve been looking apart long ago.
Your peace is the Sun. It’s warm an’ light there.
My peace is the Night with darkness and cold.

I don’t know, how all these could happen.
I cannot answer who is to blame.
And now I have to live somehow,
I have to live to spite of all them.

Your chocolate eyes and your almond hair
Fill me up… I cannot breath.
I need your smell! I need your looking!
I’ll truly love you up to death!
Sometimes love is too sad. But it's also love with all its deep feelings...
Jonah Singleton Dec 2024
Pain has terrorized me for an eternity.

Creator,
I have cried immensely
I prostrate myself before you
long ago, I believed I had submitted
though, apparently
submission befalls me this moment.

How much stronger has my torment become
over a period of many moons now
I can suddenly comprehend the wailing proclamations of dying men
their spirits suddenly snatched from the comforts of their varying delights.
The knowledge is contained within physical flesh
yes, contributing to the composition of memories – cognition
still, those memories are compiled inside of cerebral creases – tissue.
The same portions of knowledge are stored
composing the affectionate and turbulent strings
bonds that serve, only, to tether individuals intimately to one another.

I can now feel, with precision, the agony of broken hearts
continuously trampled upon
or existing underneath the feet of fiends of malicious intent.

Oh,

how they play with the heart
kisses and hugs that deceive my soul
ensnaring my innocence inside of their selfish glee.
Shallow beast!
Who hath no capacity to love
instead,
an endless pit of torment where her heart should be.

An addition of stress
I labored under the collective scheme of those who absconded with my children
such an action that triggered my mental and emotional faculties negatively
a most sinister pain.

Was there something,
at my birth,
that you, the creator, should have explained?
I, youth, grand descendant of the emperor Sundiata Keita
my mature life reflective to that of the biblical Job.
Did you, Elohim the creator, devise my life to experience and endure pain?
The strain upon my spirit loomed heavily
supreme, because of the glass smoke I consistently ingested.
Ultimately, there presented the dematerialization of my personalization.

So, according to those facts of life
it ceases me to promote any wonder of how my life has gestated my hatred
which was emboldened by the thieves of my seeds
prompted by a harbinger of toxic unifications – a devil sent to sever my loving patience.

Creator,
lo,
I gripe because my distress is great
the foundation – that night that my initial hero was slain
unbeknownst to I that night would become the prelude to my life’s testimony.
I have, since, stared into the eyes of men, who presumably, re-enacted my fate -
lonely
eternally heartbroken
so they rejected to engage human compassion
hermits
components of communities comprised of other outcasts
a kingdom of vast distances between denizens
bleak.

Creator, lo
I am soon to quiet my grievances.
I do appreciate that you awaken me and guide me into new days
but, I must ask, still,
why am I to persist in enduring a pain so pure?

Down there,
in the depths of my chest,
my heart contemplates fear and abandonment
my tears remain the testament of my citizenship
the captive of an emotional void composed of a morbidly horrendous uncertainty
they are poised to terminate and bury me.

Creator,
if I collapse of a broken heart before the eyes of them all,
will you carry me?
Yet,
also,
and still,
if I expire alone
my breath ceasing, in the absence of all,
in my solitude,
will you cover me?
JKirin Nov 2024
In the rain
through the pain
I'm letting you go.
I don't even know
if you felt the salt
on my lips,
when I kissed
your sorrows away,
paving me the way
to endless torture,
to my misfortune.
Millennia
without you,
my tears
will fall.
about goodbyes
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