Stephanie Anagnoson wrote the poem that I post here. She posted it on Connection Well and I am so touched I asked to also place it here.
You can also read this poem and more of her writing at: http://survivingtheworkday.com.
In her blog, Stephanie brings spirituality to the workplace.
She says in this poem what I thought, but was unable to articulate.
A Prayer to Benazir Bhutto
I shouldn’t have been shocked it happened.
I’m actually surprised Hillary Clinton is still alive.
But, even so, I started to cry
when I heard the news.
After years of self-imposed exile,
you returned to a country
with burgeoning Taliban power
only to feel three sharp slaps
to the neck and chest.
You were not a perfect hero,
far from it.
There were always corruption charges.
You spent years in jail.
But you were strong, female,
and weren’t letting the Crazies win.
Sometimes, Benazir, I wonder why God remains silent,
why he/she/it doesn’t just say something to the masses,
something like, “It’s love, not hate that I wanted you to make.”
And it doesn’t need to rhyme.
It just needs to be loud,
far reaching
and so deep that all of us feel it.
I was sixteen when you came to power as prime minister,
and I thought that even in the most conservative country,
a woman could lead.
Of course, I haven’t seen this first hand in the
But what happened is what happens:
you’re smart, you’re female,
you get bitch slapped by some fundamentalist,
whose goal is to take you down and blow himself up.
Make no mistake: it’s not always a man that does the slapping.