She Said

by Noah Vale

She said that man touched her inappropriately.
That was a problem to me.

I’m conflicted
maybe it’s my mother in me,
maybe my father,
maybe both.

I love her.
But something in me kept quiet.

When she asked me to speak,
I said, “next week.”
Or maybe, “I’ll see.”

She broke a little in front of me.
And I felt it too late.

Too weak.

We grow up around men
we’re told to trust
brothers, uncles, friends
and still, it is them.

How do you judge
what raised you?

Another girl dies somewhere.
Another story buried in sleep.

And we call it shocking.

But we made this.

I am not special for speaking now.
Not brave.
Not clean.

Because when it mattered,
I hesitated.

And it lives with me
that hesitation.

That silence.

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Noah Vale is a poet from Serowe, Botswana that writes poetry as an act of reflection and release, turning emotion into language and silence into story. Their work carries echoes of longing, hope, and the search for meaning in ordinary life.