By Sana Abbasi
23 May 2011
Category: Human Rights

Source: passion-prayers-and-poetry.blogspot.com

Laughing, clapping, celebrating..
A joyous occasion for him and his family.

Screaming, resisting, crying..
I just wanted someone to help me.

It was no use, he had found his prey,
In one snatch, he took me away,

To be his wife, his new bride
At the expense of my dignity, my pride.

His home was now my prison,
Doing a life sentence with no conviction.

I had no choice, but to live with the pain
Or else in society I would have been a stain.

No other would have married me
So I had to endure the hurt silently

Not once were my feelings considered
I'm now old, wrinkled skin, hair withered

I had always imagined my fairytale wedding
Never had I thought I'd be the victim of a bride-kidnapping

A tradition known as 'Ala kachuu'
A tradition that could stop, if only more people knew.