For him, it was 10 minutes
A ten minute victory
over a person too drugged to use
her Judo against him
or the knife
that was clipped into her back
pocket
For me, it was 10 hours
Ten hours of jokes, of deep,
centered breathing
Of being strong
Of being there
Of holding her hand
For her, it was 10 days
Ten days of waiting to find out
if she was clean
That all traces of him were gone
from her flesh
That she had healed
Though,
In reality
Time stopped for her in those ten
minutes
Her lifeclock was reset
And instead of measuring time in
years since birth
Or years since graduation
She measures time in days
Days that add space between her
and him.
Today makes 32
32 days closer to moving from
victim
To survivor
And realizing that 'victim'
doesn’t
mean 'fault.'
