Sixteen days to rehash and remember pain and sorrow are here again;
Sixteen days, I lament with the depth of my soul have come;
Reminder that sixteen bones in my body have been broken;
Confirmation that only sixteen steps remain before I reach the door of my grave;
The undying fact that sixteen feet to the depth of the barren soil, I shall descend.
These are indeed sixteen days of nothingness for me;
Closely accompanied and guarded by sixteen nights of pitch black darkness;
Reassurance that sixteen stitches on my swollen eyes are still intact;
Not to mention the sixteen teeth that were forcefully evicted from my mouth;
Which are denying me sixteen chances to raise my voice and seek help.
Sixteen times, I am now hopeless and ashamed;
With a heart only sixteen beats away to cease;
To escape sixteen looks of hatred and lust from this awful world;
Decorated by sixteen facial wounds too deep to be hidden by a bandage;
Applied by sixteen defeated and ‘not so very sure’ nurses.
Perhaps sixteen prayers I need;
Sixteen hugs of love and affection I seek;
I want sixteen words of strength and guidance;
So I bow down sixteen times to the heavens;
That sixteen merciful hands bless and touch my life.
So that I can stand and gallop hundred and sixteen miles like a determined stallion;
With sixteen kilometres smile shining brightly on my face;
In a new and safe world where not only sixteen women and children are protected;
Where greatness of humanity despite gender is celebrated;
And not sixteen seconds lame prowl of a deceitful and impatient tiger.
