don’t judge me yet

I need to speak with you
I did not choose this
Nor did I agree to being here
Where your eyes look at me with pure disapproval to shame me
Name me, now no one can tame me because of the half truths you have created to mame me!
I lacked knowledge of entwining bodies.
My trust was rusted by lust.
I need to talk to you so you knew, I was raped and I ended up here.

I need to talk to you
I was faithful and respectful and loving.
When I found the love of my life
He promised to love and hold me. To be faithful.
And so love sprung, I gave him the bigger part of my heart.
I did not know I was enough
Till I found myself here.
I need to talk to you so you knew
That years of saving myself for the one did not pay off
I still got here.

I need to talk to you
About how my life has never been like the other children
How when each day I had to drink pills I never knew their ills to
Because I was told about some TB and asthma never the truth
That now at 16 I know how I got here
Where my family was ‘protecting’ me from the truth
Yet I lived in a world where they knew my secret.
A secret I did not know I had
Because we, of the silent tribe
Don’t talk about the reality of this disease.
And that being born with it, you can’t fix it.
Pre-marital sex is not the only cause, that extra marital activities fuel the spread
That rape is a gateway as well
And some are born with it!

This is not the story you want to hear is it?
Instead you still segregate some of us because of our status.
Before you do all that.
You need to hear our story
Of how we got here
To hear it was never our choice.
Never our voice that spoke
Nor yours that did
Instead you hid
The truth, say you are tired
Of talking about HIV
You have to
Talk about all kinds of ways to be infected
All kinds of ways we are affected.

I need to talk to you
To talk about our stories
Remove the stigma from your mouths and say it
Evidently we all need to hear it
Let’s not dwell on the negative
Side of this, it worsens the situation
And as a nation
Be HIV positive
of a cure…

Posted by P.A.W. from WordPress for BlackBerry.