Anna's Song

On the gathering storm,

as the wind whistled dissonantly,

we remember the day it all blew away.

She was just eighteen and just wanted to be... eighteen.

We think back to the world before—

before darkness descended,

on the day it all blew away.

He wanted her, took her, used her.

Listen closely to the fiddlers’ tune, to the pluck of banjos,

as we pay homage to that day.

She wanted to be free, to live without a care—

but they, with lecherous, vile desires,

took her innocence, tainting it with the blood of swine.

That day, the brightness faded,

and the hope that held us together dissipated.

He wanted her, took her, used her,

without fear of recrimination, without fear of ostracisation.

The future always feels untold, so far away—

until it’s here to stay.

He saw a pretty thing, coveted, took, and ruined her.

The future we now see so clearly

was sown by seeds so long ago,

seeds we wish we had blown away.

To cover their sin, to secure their sin,

they sealed our fate—

with the threat of fire and death.

Decisions made behind closed doors

sealed our fate

on the fateful day our freedom blew away.

Crisp without cold, the violent storm blows silently,

without letup, as I sing and remember that day.

The deathly dust, never settling,

chokes those who strive to remain,

those who sing and remember that day.

That day, the leaders of the so-called free world—

the leaders of demonocracy, here to stay—

decreed that power be taken from the commoner

and wielded by those who refused to blow away.

Power that led to firing shots at those

who stood at the walls of power,

who wished to blow away.

All we ever came to know,

all we ever came to know—

derailed freedom,

betrayed freedom.

All we ever came to know,

all we ever came to know—

freedom derailed, freedom betrayed.

Absolute power consumed them. Absolute power became them.

“Father,

God, our saviour,

why have you forsaken us?

Did you not hear us call to you as they raped our willpower?

-

Father,

God, our creator,

why did you abandon us?

Did you not shed a tear

as they tore our hope, ripped it apart?”

-

1 2, she didn't want to do what they wanted.

They drained our blood to hoard it.

They feasted on the afterbirth of a thousand newborns,

decreeing this world would be theirs forever.

It started with a silent cry of injustice, as so many things do.

3 4, they took her and treated her like a common whore—

a cry unheard, snuffed out

as we slept in the façade of comfort.

A defiant voice raised her silent hell to deaf ears.

They wanted what was not theirs to have.

5 6, when she protested, they beat her with sticks.

Sought to grasp it,

take her, use her, break her, whore her.

They raped

more than just that eighteen-year-old girl from a humble background that day.

7 8, they forced her to her knees to obey, to prostrate.

They raped

our freedom without regret.

Her defiance is the foundation for their new society and world order,

where we have no say or right to refuse.

For if we do,

they reserve the right—their right—to debase.

Our outcry was met with violence.

Our outcry was hushed and erased from public records.

We fought to hold what was left of our rights,

to stand for Anna and all like her—

for Anna.

But their wall was impenetrable,

stone and silence swallowing our cries.

the land is green and good,

for the greedy and the good,

the land is theirs, not ours

from that moment on,

the façade of comfort, the beguiling lie that had held us captive for so long

was forever...

lifted

and the true nature of our so-called free world was revealed forever more

they did not want for us

to have

the freedom

we had worked so hard to hold onto

they did not want for us

to have

the freedom

Her resounding ‘no’ became universal—

a no silenced, no matter how hard we thought.

Losses fell on both sides, but ours were heavier in one small city

than theirs on a worldwide scale.

Ours, in one small city, eclipsed theirs on a worldwide scale.

Stifled we were too soon into the battle

That the threat of war was unfounded

We fought our hardest, we fought so well

We fought until we bled, we fought until so many were dead

Alas, it all was in vain, and caused us more pain

Alas, Alas, we could never surpass

The might and the power at their behest

Our lives were not our own

Our lives were theirs alone

And so, we stood and heard the call

The laws rewritten, our singular amendment

That became our constitution—

beyond their desires and their urges

all is for nothing

unless

it is for the glory and satisfaction of our masters

they realised their past failings,

when we could breathe, work, dance, eat, drink, and live

and how they lacked autonomy over their population,

their error, our freedom

Her cry—they rapeof fear, of disgust,

of venomous, justified protection of her right to autonomy,

her right to consent—

gave them a reason to act.

What seemed at first a knee-jerk reaction

became a hammer’s fall, a tightening.

tightening of their grip over everything and everyone, though we tried in vain to fight back, to protest

They decreed our rights were theirs to shape.

we were but cattle to their slaughter, the war spoils and fruitful harvest of their labour

Poor Anna, we lost, that day in mind and spirit

Poor Anna, we lost, forever

Hope feels lost and a distant memory

Blown on the breeze

If Hope will come, we cannot say

We reap for them all, they rape us all

Our lives spent in the dirt and the mire

If we are pigs in the pen,

will anyone tear down the fences?

*

Thanks for reading!

Author's Notes: I felt compelled to write a folk song-style poetry entry for this challenge. I wanted the feeling that this would maybe be passed down from generation to generation by oral tradition.

My other entry for the The Moment That Changed Everything challenge is here: