Beat Me

[DieterM]

I’m not a good woman
I’m a bad wife, too, I know
I know these things, I swear
And I do try, you know,
I try to improve and please you…
I know I should try harder

Alright, I’m filthy and foul
Agreed, my cooking is bad
I forget so many things, you know
The salt, it’s often the salt
You told me oh! so many times
But still I seem to forget

Of course, you’re much too good for me
I don’t deserve you, I know that
I’m getting fat, I’m getting old
You’re right, so absolutely, you are
I don’t even know how to comb my hair
I… I must have lost that ability, too

I’m stupid, and yes, I’m ashamed
I’m good for nothing, it’s understood
I don’t want to provoke you
But still do, despite myself,
I swear, I swear to God,
It’s not on purpose, it just slips…

I know what I deserve, I do
You told me so often
I know it hurts you to do it
I know you hate me
for making you do it
I bow my head and accept

I’ll tell them I fell in the stairs
Don’t be afraid I know my role
I’ll tell them I hit the doorframe
Again, yes again, for I’m clumsy
I know I deserve no better
I know I’m a deception

[Jassy Melson]

The title says it all. This is a painful poem to read. I felt sadness, pain and anger as I read it. I so wanted the woman to rebel, to resist, but she doesn't, because as she states in the poem, she knows her role, and she deserves it. This is a powerful poem, and it's tragic too.

[hillwalker]

A poignant piece indeed - the so-familiar voice of the battered wife always to blame for her own mistreatment.

H

[angliholic]

Oh! No!
DieterM, how could you have such a miserable thought in a modern time and in a modern country!
It should have only happened in the ancient times in Oriental societies, perhaps!

[DieterM]

@ Jassy & hill: thank you for reading and for leaving your comments.
@ angliholic: I agree with you that this SHOULD only have happened in the ancient times, albeit not necessarily in Oriental societies only. Alas, statistics tell us a different story. The poem is indeed about today and about our so-called 'civilized' Western societies. In France, for instance, every fourth day, a woman dies, yes, dies under her husband's strokes! One out of ten women has already known domestic violence in her life. And when it's not beatings or worse, it's verbal abuse that makes women suffer. Alas, I say again alas! It's sad but it's reality…

[PrinceMyshkin]

It's a poignant, heart-breaking poem but I wish there had been even the slightest squeak or hint of protest on her part; some indication that despite the argument against herself that she makes on his behalf, there is even the tiniest part of her that values herself.

[Haunted]

Sad yet maddening, it's as though she's beaten into submission. Thanks for bringing awareness to the situation, it's more common than our society would want to admit.

[kittypaws]

DieterM, you are right....it does happen way to often and takes lives, yes human lives. Very bring it home poem.

kittypaws

[DieterM]

prince, haunted, kitty, thank you. Yes, I know it's maddening, and yes, we'd want her to react, to stand up and protect herself, but the manipulation has already gone too far. That's the most maddening part of it, the part I wanted to outline.

[aliengirl]

A very poignant poem indeed. I really find it hard to believe that every fourth day a woman dies of domestic violence in France. Can it happen in a 'civilized' society? Perhaps you're right that the manipulation has gone so far that she fails to stand up and speak for her own rights. Thanks for bringing to light this painful issue.

[Delta40]

unsettling poem indeed. I would much rather read the mindset of the abuser though. If she is really that useless, why doesn't HE just leave?

[Haunted]

Its a condition called the battered woman syndrome. They side with their abusers.