The Weight of the Turn

​Was it the way my skirt would sway? Or how bold and proud I moved my frame, Carried by a confidence and innocence I didn't know I’d have to defend? ​Do any of you know what it feels like... To walk draped in the guilt of a single choice? Believing I could have outrun a dark fate If only I’d turned a different corner. ​They tell me, "It isn't your fault," Yet I whisper, "It wouldn't have happened if I wasn't there." I walk every day with my head held high, My shoulders squared against the world, But I lose an inch of height with every second The memory of those filthy, unwanted touches returns. ​I march on with this resentment, this heavy shame, Wishing the earth would simply open wide And swallow me whole, Just to let me rest.