Death Before Dishonour

April 30, 2018

In this case
There’s no honour in being violent
No honour in unleashing feelings that refuse to stay silent

There’s nothing worse than
Leaving your daughter more than frightened

But still
Some would go beyond those limits
To protect the family name
They’re more than rigid
Sacrilege

Must remain dead and buried
And so it does
Under her name in the cemetery

Since she didn’t heed his lecture
She wanted another guy
But he didn’t let her

Forbidden love didn’t create the rift
What did was death before dishonour
Instead of her happiness
What he had in mind was torture

Just wanting to make her scream
Lead to the shock of raising a murdered teen
Because for a split second
He forgot what being a father means

When the little princess fell from his eyes
While trying to live up to his vision
Is how patriarchy kept her in prison
Which was why he was unwilling to listen

Ever since finding out
He wanted her married off
Now and not leave it until later

As the role of a wife
Can serve to police behaviour
Especially when they’re still kind of young
Marriage is used to allay the irrational fear from parents
Of what their daughters may become
Independent, liberal or traditionally less observant
Detaching themselves from honour

For someone like her it was a burden
That she carried on her shoulders
Showing no sign of resistance
But anger brew at her brother
Who was treated kind of different?

You can say better
A form of discrimination based on gender
Places the issue of choice
Point blank at the centre
Praying that he would accept the guy she was seeing

Just two beautiful human beings
Who wanted to build a dream
But no

At that moment he forgot what being a father means
When he changed her  room into a crime scene
Showing how gender inequality
Can widen even further
Via twisted ideologies
Preserving honour through murder

To Justify the end
with the blare of police sirens
The moral of the story?
There’s no honour in being violent

 

 

 

 

 

Mizan The Poet

Mizan the poet is a versatile spoken word artist and activist, whose brand of poetry provides vivid social and political commentary.

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