This poem is a stark and moving reflection on how systems continue to fail survivors of violence, even as they show immense courage in seeking safety, justice and dignity. Through vivid imagery and unflinching truth, Sukhvinder Kaur captures the emotional and structural barriers women face when the institutions meant to protect them instead question, minimise or overlook their experiences. The poem walks us through a survivor’s journey and how their experiences and pain can often be minimised in comparison to their perpetrator who could continue to benefit from the system that disbelieves survivors.
Where You Begin, Where I End speaks not only to the pain of being disbelieved, but also is a rallying call for justice, solidarity, strength and collective power that emerge when we stand together to demand change.
As part of Welsh Women’s Aid’s #16Days16Voices and in collaboration with Sikh Women’s Aid, we share this work to honour art as a tool for expression and as #VoiceOfChange, healing and resistance. It is a reminder that change begins with listening and with believing survivors, and with reshaping our systems to reflect justice, compassion and equity.
Read the full poem below and join us in amplifying the voices that are too often ignored.
Where You Begin, Where I End
It is You who journeys, while I bear the scars,
It is You who cries as I mend what’s ours.
It is You who laughs while I bow my head—
Where do You start, where am I led?
What is this madness You call love?
A woman steps forward, her story untold,
Her body is weary, her spirit controlled.
“I am not safe,” she says, voice thin,
But the system hums—it won’t let her in.
Papers shuffle, a clock ticks loud,
Her pain lost in the legal crowd.
Her fear is weighed, her truth denied,
Her courage questioned, her soul tried.
Then he appears, sharp and tall,
The system leans, hears his call.
“You must believe,” he calmly explains,
And they nod, erasing her chains.
Her wounds are doubts, her tears are weak,
His violence? Mistakes they seek.
He charms the room, the rules, the law—
Her terror is what they never saw.
She holds her breath as judgment is made,
Her life in balance, the scales mislaid.
“Why didn’t you leave?” they ask her shame,
As though fear is a game to tame.
“Why didn’t you fight?” their voices chime,
As though silence is not shaped by time.
They call it “both sides” and turn away,
Two small words that destroy her day.
For her, a refuge of walls too thin,
A bed to sleep, a war within.
She’s handed forms, a list to wait,
While “bravery” echoes, but comes too late.
For him, a program, a softer tone,
A slap on the wrist, a path well-known.
Rehabilitation whispers sweet,
While justice stumbles at his feet.
She cries alone while he walks free,
Her nights are long, his world is ease.
She battles courts, she fights for breath,
While he forgets his trail of death.
The system churns, its heart of stone,
It leaves her stranded, it shields his throne.
When did the law turn cold and blind,
To punish her, protect his kind?
When did compassion fold in fear,
Ignoring the voices it should hear?
But this madness they call love—
It does not belong to him above.
It belongs to sisters who raise their fists,
To those who fight, who resist.
It lives in change, in hearts that care,
In systems rebuilt, in lives laid bare.
Where You begin, where I do too,
Together we’ll build something new.
Let love be the fire that lights our way,
Let justice rise, let the broken stay.
This is not the end, but the start of the fight,
For truth, for hope, for wrongs made right.
– A poem by Sukhvinder Kaur, Chair of Trustees, Sikh Women’s Aid