VEGANGELICA

You think you know your son,

believing you’ve done right by him,

and yet you had him cut. 

You made your child your victim.

His wound is now a scar. 

You think his pain has gone away.

Well, think again,

because here’s what your little boy will say:

You say you love me

but my body tells me otherwise.

You had them hurt me in my childhood,

ignoring my cries.

You let them strap me down

and cut me though there was no need.

You should have known it’s wrong

to make a child’s genitals bleed.

You were my parents

and you should have been protecting me.

Instead you had them slice

and violate my body.

You shouldn’t torture

little children’s sexuality.

You had no right to harm the

most private part of me.

        CHORUS:

        Shock, shock, shock to my system.

        You should have never cut me, making me your victim.

        Shock, shock, shock to your system.

        You were my parents, so where was your wisdom?

You never bothered learning

what this part of me was for.

My foreskin gave protection,

sensuous sensation and more.

It was the most

erogenous part of my body,

more sensitive than any

part of what you left on me.

I’ve lost the sliding, gliding

mechanism

that evolution had selected

with wisdom.

I would have made my own

lubrication.

I would have never had to

suffer from abrasion.

I’ll never know now how I

was supposed to be,

because you mutilated

what belonged to me.

Your thoughtless choice has left me

with less sensation.

I now suffer

sensory deprivation.

        CHORUS: Repeat

I was a newborn baby

sleeping soundly on your arm.

You handed me to people

breaking vows to do no harm.

They strapped my arms and legs down

on a circumstraint board,

this little darling baby

whom you claimed that you adored.

And then as I was struggling helplessly

against the bands,

they shoved a metal probe 

between my foreskin and my glans.

These had been fused together

like your finger bed and nail.

Excruciating pain shot through me.

I began to wail.

And when they severed all my nerves

no anesthetic cream

could dull the torture of this trauma.

I began to scream.

I cried and cried to tell you stop,

but since I couldn’t talk,

I was ignored, the pain went on,

and I went into shock.

        CHORUS: Repeat

When they were done

with the depravity of your request,

they gave me back to you,

where I refused the breast.

Exhausted from the anguish

and the tears I wept,

I shut myself away from all of you

and slept.

You had betrayed my trust.

You filled my life with danger.

You let them rape me.

You were worse than any stranger.

For weeks my open wound

was raw where I was flayed.

You should have never tried

to change how I was made.

You were my parents

and you should have been protecting me.

Instead you had them slice

and violate my body.

You shouldn’t torture

little children’s sexuality.

You had no right to harm the

most private part of me.

        CHORUS: Repeat

You claim you had some sort of

justification

for perpetrating genital

mutilation.

You claim that circumcision

improves hygiene,

but you don’t cut off children’s body parts

to keep them clean!

You claim you wanted to

protect me from HIV,

but how to do that best

is teach the rules of ABC:

abstinence, be faithful,

and ensure consistent condom use.

You don’t stop STIs

by perpetrating child abuse!

You claim you did it for

your culture or religion.

What kind of culture turns

abuse into tradition?!

You say your god tells you

to cut your helpless offspring.

You shouldn’t make a child’s torture

be an offering!

You tell me that I wasn’t hurt,

trying to minimize

the harm you did, which is

another way to victimize.

And now that I am grown,

you claim that I am fine.

How would you know,

because my genitals are mine!

You should have never treated me

like your possession,

damaging me due to your

sexual obsession.

Your doctor and your holy men

were your accomplices.

You all are perpetrators

of cruel injustices.

Mutilating genitals of little girls

is wrong, you cry,

but when it is a little boy,

you turn your blind eye.

You had no right to make your

violent incision.

What happens to my body

should be my decision!

(INTERLUDE)

You are the emperor who thinks he’s wise

but wears no clothes.

I am the little child

who sees you standing naked and knows.

I see right through you

and your flimsy excuses.

You are abusers,

defending your abuses.

You pinned a little child down.

You cut his penis by force.

Yet you acknowledge no wrongdoing.

You feel no remorse.

You violated my

genital integrity.

You had no right to harm the

most private part of me.

Fondle little children

and you’ll spend your life in jail.

Why can you cut their foreskin off

if they are male?!

There is no rationale,

no justification.

You perpetrated

genital mutilation.

        CHORUS: Repeat

You think you know your son,

believing you’ve done right by him,

and yet you had him cut.

You made your child

your victim.

His wound is now a scar.

You think his pain has gone away.

Well, think again, because

that’s what your little boy will say!

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Photo Sources:

Mother and Son, Public Domain (courtesy of www.pdphoto.org)

Crying child, Public Domain (courtesy of www.photos8.com) 

Baby crying, Public Domain (Credit Matt Williams, placed in the public domain on sxc.hu) 

Parents, Public Domain (courtesy of www.photos8.com) 

Broken seashell, Public Domain (courtesy of www.photos8.com)  

Boy by ocean, Public Domain (courtesy of www.photos8.com) 

Unopened flower, Public Domain (courtesy of www.photos8.com) 

Flower, petals removed, Public Domain (courtesy of www.photos8.com) 

Dried flower, Public Domain (courtesy of www.photos8.com) 

Sunflower, Public Domain (courtesy of www.pdphoto.org) 

Baby sleeping, Public Domain  

Pregnant, Public Domain 

Lock, Public Domain (courtsey of www.photos8.com) 

Screaming baby, Public Domain 

Pain, Public Domain (courtesy of www.photos8.com) 

Baby with mother, Public Domain file Jason H.

Tears, Public Domain (courtesy of www.photos8.com)  

Nitrile doctor's glove, Public Domain (Wikimedia Commons) 

Protecting a baby, Public Domain (credit Wikimedia Commons) 

Baby's hand, Public Domain (photo by Anna Cervova www.publicdomainpictures.net)

ABC photo, Credit:  Rohan Baumann, released to publi domain on sxc.hu 

Muslim holy book, Public Domain (courtesy of www.photos8.com)

Mohel Circumcisor book, Public Domain (courtesy of  www.photos8.com) 

Boy mannequin, Public Domain (courtesy of www.photos8.com)

Circumcision sculpture, Public Domain (courtesy of www.photos8.com)

Blind eye, Public Domain (courtesy of www.photos8.com) 

Baby sleeping, Public Domain 

Child's eye, Public Domain (courtesy of www.photos8.com) 

Candle, Public Domain (courtesy of www.photos8.com)

Flames, Public Domain (courtesy of www.photos8.com)

Teddy Bear, Public Domain (courtesty of www.photos8.com)