An Ode to Superwomen

Broken. We are both broken, I and you.
Skin and bones crunch in agony,
The guns fire in a staccato rhythm,
Rat-a-tat, broken by applause of a thousand hands.

Tired, I'm bone tired and even as the floor shifts,
I reach my hands out to you and you catch it;
We know it's only minutes, maybe just seconds to go,
We smile and hold hands and even giggle. Audacious!

Hope fills the space, or maybe it's just us, together.
Enter, the old man with a riding crop,
The younger follows, with a deceiving smile;
It could be the end or the beginning, we really didn't know.

Children. Their cries fill up the air followed by laughter,
Giggles fill up the space.
We stop breathing and listen,
There are cries, many heart-wrenching, some sublime.

We look at each other and then at the door,
Mentally counting in unison,
One, two, three, go! We run.
The bones hurt, the skin smarts and angry gasps follow us.

Somehow, avoiding imminent torture we rush out,
Opening doors, rattling chains and cuffs, restoring order;
Footsteps come nearer. Hands, choking hands, curl around my neck,
I lose consciousness and fall.

You grip my dead hand, shouting obscenities.
Your hold tightens. And then, you fall, with me.
Wind drops, the world stops and we stay suspended,
Together, defying gravity, defying death.

I wake up and look at you pulling me back,
You are telling me, "come back you imbecile..."
I smile because I know you'll never let go and that together,
We kick ass!