Cowardice

What does a man think when he watches another

Put hands around a woman’s fragile neck

And squeeze, until she passes

To unconsciousness?



What does he fear when he sees a knife

Drawn and held against a woman’s dying face,

Her body slouched

Trapped

Beneath the weight?



What goes through his mind as he runs away

To take his brother

To a safer place?


As fear and cowardice fill his veins

Does he sit alone

And contemplate?



What fills his heart when the strength

Of a victim

Goes beyond his own?


Does he hurt,

His guidance rejected

As she walks alone?