In the name of Honour

In memory of the hundreds of dis-honour-able killings that take place every year around the world. May these women lead the way to freedom for all.

The shovel bought the innards of the soil up

Up to the surface to bathe in the sun’s light

They dug the hole deep, so no hope

No hope to climb or claw could be found

They wrapped her broken body in the black cloth

And threw her into the darkness below

Her eyes flickered as she tried to move her beaten body

The body of a sinner, the body of a woman

Born guilty, guilty of the urge to love

At only eighteen she had dared to love a man

The source of her downfall

At the age of eighteen she fell in love with the man

Who would deal her final blow

She took away her veil for him to see the smile

He brought upon her virtuous lips

She let him bring her to his bed where

He gently pulled the virginity from betwixt her legs

There was no jury that day, but the death sentence was cast

He was only twenty, the day he threw the largest stone

At the girl he used to love, before she became a black mark

A secret, spiteful word whispered around the village

They said she was being punished in the name of honour

But there was no honour in this killing

Enveloped in darkness as a sack was pulled over her head

Bound by the rough fingers of rope around her wrist

And her body buried in the sand and dirt below

So that the only target were her women’s breasts

And her eighteen year old face

Without looking into her eyes they cast the stones

Without hearing the plea, that had no time to escape her lips

They beat the love out of her, their daughter, sister and cousin

Her woman’s curse died with her that day

As they shovelled the unravelled dirt upon her

And cast her off into the shadow of death

Where she was greeted in light, the sin of being a woman

Not enough to keep her from paradise