In The Dark

Safety Rules

Hold your keys between your fingers.

When walking, look to see who lingers.

Keep alert and don’t turn your back.

Even in your car, you never know who’s about to attack.

Lock the doors,

Don’t look at the floor.

Keep your head up and look them in the eyes.

You have to scare off every guy.

You can’t show too much skin.

Cover it up or you’re asking for it.

“It’s just my shoulder. I don’t see what’s so wrong.”

But to men they take it as their chance to prove they’re strong.

They take us by our arms and pull us away.

They hold us down and under their filth we stay.

We have to hope that it will be over soon.

So we can go home and hate ourselves in our room.

They look at us and see objects that were made for them

I’m not saying that it’s all men.

Most of them will reject our no’s.

And take us just because they said so.

We could cry and scream, try to push them off.

But it doesn’t work when they don’t care how much you cough.

They will hold the cloth over your mouth and nose.

They will hold you down and strip you of your clothes.

After the fact you can try to speak out.

But you don't remember much because you were knocked out.

You know in your heart, what had happened that day.

But no one believes a word you have to say.

The man you accuse is a public figure.

They ask why you didn’t fight him off even though he was bigger.

You say “I tried, he was too strong.”

Yet somehow you were still in the wrong.

“Maybe it was the clothes you were wearing that night.”

“Maybe you didn’t put up enough of a fight.”

You may have been out when the deed was done.

But you still deserve to have this case won.

You fight with everything you have left.

Because he stole the other in a serious theft.

You can try to fight your side, since you were right.

But because he’s a public figure, he still wins the fight.

Now when you walk alone in the street.

You had to get a gun to defend yourself from the elite.

You shiver every time you're alone in the dark.

No matter how long it’s been, you feel like you can still see the marks.

You feel his hand in places you shouldn’t.

Dread rips through you like a bullet.

In the night, you jerk awake.

From the nightmares he left in his place.

Now you must hold your knife in your hand.

And keep your eyes alert for anything bad.

You must now grip that gun tight.

Because it might be the only thing saving your life.

The ones who choose not to listen will be the ones labeled as “fools”,

If they don’t listen to these ‘safety rules’.