Chapter Closed
By Tiana Angelique Notice

Can’t say I didn’t see it coming.
I prolonged the process long enough
sometimes you want to give a man
The benefit of the doubt.
To prove he is how he says he is.
I was disappointed.
For all the words were lies
and his actions spoke louder.

Let his emptiness comfort him at night.

Like them cement walls he became accustomed to.

Let the words of foolish single men around him fill him with the knowledge to move forward.
May he spend the rest of his nights knowing he drove a true love away.
And may I live with the contentment of know that I had the final say.

For there are not tears to shed but tears of joy.
An escape from the drama that surrounds his past, present, and future.
From the release o his temper torture, threats, ego, jealously and insecurity.

I smile for my curtain call.
To have won and gained and lost nothing at all but a shallow companionship.
For his house is empty and my life is full.
For trouble surrounds him and karma will pay its respects.

I pray he humble himself before the Lord and save the error of his ways.
For sometimes I may let my tongue get the best of me, but my love never gets carried away.

For I regained my strength when I walked out the door.
Regained independence by saying “no more.”
An empty house in solitude is how he will spend his days.
And I ret assured in knowing: I’m beautiful, smart, and on my way!

Dated August 24, 2008

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My sister wrote this poem this summer. It's scary to think that she might have known what lied ahead with her tormentuous relationship with her abuser. I'm slowly finding out and reading between the lines that she was living in fear and was mentally and emotional strained from her relationship. I can't stop wishing my sister would have come to me and keep hoping maybe I could have saved her life. it hurts more than anything that I have been working in the field of Women's Rights and been an advocated for violence against women for the past 10 years. To have my sister be killed in such a violent and brutal way is paining my heart. Every time I think about him murdering her, I want to breakdown and stop living. The strength of my family and friends is allowing me to go on and allowing me to keep working to honor her name. I've lost many people in my life but that lost of a sister violently killed is the worst feeling in the world. I wouldn't wish this feeling on anyone in the world. I don't have anyone that I hate that much and maybe someone hates me but even then, I would not wish that on them.

I don't even know if I'm making sense, but my sister's poem above is clear. You know exactly what she was saying and what her world meant. You can only imagine what her life was like.