The Borders of Peril

You've not known pain unless you've felt
Involuntarily spasms pass through your back bone,
Shaking you right to the core.

You have not known pain unless you've lost a limb or two,
And ached in fire of sheer loss.

You have not known pain unless you've tossed around night after night,
Not sleeping a wink, wondering 

If a thought about you have passed someone's mind.

You have not known pain unless you have been cornered by men,
Worse than stray dogs, helpless and hopeless in the face of fate.

You have not known pain, unless you've experience something
As beautiful as childbirth,
And not as worse as the catastrophe of losing one.

You have not known pain unless you've basked in the relief of an escape,
Whether it comes from running away, or a stinging blade.

You have not known pain unless you have been forced to see,
Your children going to bed
On an empty stomach, night after night.

Meaningless, your pain is not, however may it come.
Don't let me define your pain for you.

Don't let anyone set the borders for your peril. 

You've known it all as it struck you from behind

Or ripped at you head first, and beaten you raw.

-Momina.