Dedicated to Eurydice Dixon.
We had another recent tragedy in Melbourne, supposedly one of the world’s most liveable cities. Yet another woman – a very young woman – had her life stolen from her. The words used in one of the news reports really made me angrier and more despairing about this heartbreaking catastrophe, and this dark world of ours, when the male reporter said, “She lost her life.” It resulted in this poem.
“I’m almost home safe.”
She
Lost her life
The news presenter said
Walking home
Late
one night
She lost her life,
Why say that?
It sounds like
He thought she
Was careless
In claiming
her independence
to walk home
Alone
That night.
That it was her fault
She lost her life
Minutes
from home
Say what really happened:
She was raped
She was murdered
She was a woman
(Yet another woman)
Whose life was stolen.
And that the darkness
Of our world continues
She lost her life?
WE lost her life
And today
Our dark world
Is darker still.
She lost her life?
My heart breaks
And I sorrow
Her loss
For us all.
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