I Know the Colour of Pain

I know the colour of pain

It is the soft shade of a heart
broken into fragments too tiny to be gathered
but yet big enough to mend when hope is discovered

It is the bright hue of an anger                                    

so fiery its expression will be a volcanic eruption
whose lava on every path spews forth destruction

I know the colour of pain                                                     

It is the metallic glint of a bitter laugh
that crackles loudly from behind a wall of tears
to hide the vale of misery at its rear

I know the colour of pain

It is the wild tone of a character
honed from a vengeful decision to be reckless
and live the rest of their life careless

I know the colour of pain

It is the dark tint of a life
tainted by betrayals and broken promises
so numerous they've left callouses

I know the colour of pain

http://alejandrodmarco.deviantart.com/art/The-Colour-of-Pain-458567686

The Gardener and the Seed

The gardener goes to the flower shop to buy some seeds.

On the package of the seed, he sees the beauty of the matured flower.

He sees the potential in the seed and falls in love with her.

He takes the seed home and plants her.

http://www.wikiart.org/en/georges-seurat/the-gardener-1884

One gardener gives the seed all the nutrients and care she needs. He goes the extra mile to show her how much he loves her and she grows into a beautiful plant leaving a sweet fragrance everywhere she goes. She also brings forth healthy seeds too and soon, his garden is filled with much loveliness.

Another gardener gives the seed the bare necessities, and she doesn't grow very well. She struggles to become a straggly plant with dying leaves and never fully blooms. She manages to bear seeds too, but they are tainted by the environment in which she is planted and in no time, his garden is filled with scruffy, sickly plants.

After a while, her gardener begins to grumble about her development. He looks across his fence and sees the other gardener’s beautiful plant and then begins to blame the seed. He says his seed was not good.

I wonder, is this true? Who has the problem, the gardener or the seed?

This is the story of the woman and her man.

The woman is the seed.

With the right man, who is willing to give her all the love and care she needs; a man who has the foresight and is willing to create the right environment for her to become all she is capable of becoming, she blooms beautifully and reaches her full potential.

She beautifies his life in every area and she bears/raises excellent and well adjusted children. Eventually, he becomes a respected man with an enviable home and family life.

Nothing does as much damage to a woman than an intimate relationship with a man who does not care about her environment. With resilience she may struggle to grow but he and everyone around her will never receive her best. Worst of all, her children will also struggle because they will all be limited by her environment.

A flower will never bloom with a loveless and careless gardener.

O man, tend your own garden.

I don’t get it. Do You?

I heard my friend’s husband talking to someone on the phone on Saturday afternoon.

Apparently, he was advising a younger male friend on his relationship. He told the person he needed to make

his lady feel secure in the relationship by tangible expressions of his affection and love for her. He advised him to spend time with the lady and also take her on outings like going to the movies, shows and things like that. He also told him to call and text her with professions of his love. He also told the person to persuade her to take him home as proof of his seriousness about the relationship.

When I heard his advice to the person, I was really surprised but not in a good way.

You see, this my friend’s husband has not been a nice man to her at all. In fact, in the past decade that I've known them, he has never done any of the things he was advising this person to do for his wife. My friend cannot remember the last time he took her out, because it’s been that long.

We've been blaming his behavior on his background but hearing his part of this phone conversation made me conclude that his maltreatment of my friend was deliberate. He knew the right way to treat a woman but he didn't want to treat his wife in that way.

This got me thinking about the issue of domestic violence.

Sometimes, people blame alcohol, drugs, frustration and things like that on a man’s abuse of his wife but thinking of it, it’s not really the truth because…

When a man is drunk, he doesn't beat up his drinking buddies but he can beat up his wife and blame it on the alcohol.

When a man smashes up things in the house because he’s angry or frustrated, he normally smashes up his wife’s things and not his own.

So, these men know what they’re doing. They choose to hurt the women who have submitted to them because they know she loves them and they've taken that love for granted. In spite of these conclusions or assumptions, I still have a lot of questions on why these men abuse the women who have sacrificed so much for them.

I am still reeling from the realization that my friend’s husband knows the right way to treat a woman, but is deliberately messing up his wife and children’s lives and ultimately his own.

I don’t get it. Do you?