10/08/2026
Burden of Proof
The burden of proof is heavy
Impossibly heavy
And he knows it.
The burden of proof is heavy
Suffocatingly heavy
And he knows it.
The burden of proof is heavy
Back breaking heavy
And he knows it.
The burden of proof is heavy
The kind of heavy
That forces the strongest
Amongst us
To crumble
And he knows it.
The burden is heavy
And they smuggly watch us
Try to bare it
As we begin to break
Under its weight
And when we do
They will call us
Crazy,
Slut,
Gold digger,
Mentally ill,
Liar,
Bitch,
W***e
The burden of proof is heavy
Neutron star dense
Carried on the shoulders
Of every survivor
And he knows it.
The burden of proof is heavy
And my child weeps
They wish he would just hit them
Because bruises heal
And assist in lightening
The burden
So that a judge
Might believe us.
The burden of proof is heavy
And somehow
Victim statements get condensed
To a tidy 6 page summary
That somehow left out the word
R**e.
The burden of proof is heavy
And I wasn’t taught what s*x should be like
So when he fu**ed me
After being with his mistress
His hand on my throat
My pregnant belly round
Body contorted
My jaw clenched
I didn’t know to call it assault
Well, actually, I did
But he told me I was wrong
And the burden of proof is heavy
And he knows it.
But after all,
I did say “fine”
Although not at first
When he told me to take
my pants off at 3 AM.
And after years
Of being starved
Into acquiescence
I did.
And now I know that was
Coercion
But the burden of proof
Is heavy
And he knows it.
And so we scream
Me too
And
I am Jane Doe
And
My Body My Choice
Desperate to be heard
To be believed
Thinking
“Maybe this time
It will be different”
But we know
And he knows
The burden of proof is heavy
And it is mine to bear.
