{"id":5904,"date":"2026-03-30T21:05:51","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T21:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/perth\/?p=5904"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:07:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T21:07:22","slug":"5904","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sigbi.org\/perth\/2026\/03\/30\/5904\/","title":{"rendered":"Scots poet of the year performs piece on Sarah Everard and gender-based violence for Soroptomists Perth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Celebrated Perthshire makar, Jim Mackintosh<\/a>, performed his poem, Never Enough Winters<\/em>, at our IWD event this month. This poem is in memory of Sarah Everard<\/a> (pictured below) and speaks powerfully to our campaign against gender-based violence experienced by women and girls. Jim has generously allowed us to share his work here, as part of our commitment to provoke thought and reflection on the rights of women and girls to be safe.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

NEVER ENOUGH WINTERS<\/strong>
\nfor Sarah<\/strong><\/p>\n

Five winters mark the night she did not reach
\nher door, her keys still quiet in her hand.
\nStreet lamps along the south-flow river burned,
\nashamed of what their light could not prevent.
\nIn London, where broken pavements hum
\nwith borrowed footsteps and the rush of home,
\nher name is spoken softly – Sarah Everard
\nwith reflection, with memory and ache.
\nThe trust we placed in uniforms
\nwas ripped from the fabric of our lives.
\nNot by a shadow.
\nNot by a stranger.
\nBy one who wore the badge
\nand broke its oath.
\nA police officer of the Met:
\na promise meant to stand
\nbetween the dark
\nand any woman walking through it.
\nInstead
\nthe dark was given rank and code.
\nAuthority lent teeth:
\nbetrayal camouflaged in a uniform.
\nSo what is faith, after that?
\nNot blind allegiance
\nto a stitched crest.
\nNot silence
\nfor the sake of reputation.
\nFaith is something harder:
\na stubborn flame
\nrefusing to go out.
\nFaith that truth can enter guarded halls
\nand ask the questions
\nno one wants to be asked.
\nBecause women move through cities differently.
\nKeys held between fingers.
\nRoutes rehearsed.<\/p>\n

Messages sent,
\nI\u2019m nearly home.
\nNearly.
\nTheir maps are not the same maps.
\nThey are layered with caution
\nwith glances over shoulders
\nwith the quiet arithmetic of risk.
\nFive years have passed.
\nThe candles fizzled out.
\nThe banners faded
\nbut something stronger remains.
\nThe insistence
\nlight must look inwards too.
\nThat warnings left in plain sight
\nmust not gather dust in files.
\nThat whispers from the margins
\nmust be heard
\nbefore they become elegies.
\nWe live inside structures
\nbuilt long ago – corridors measured
\nto someone else\u2019s stride.
\nThe doors may open wider now,
\nbut the hinges remember.
\nAnd change – real change
\nmust not be a slogan shouted once a year:
\nquestioning the value of
\nclaiming \u2018Lessons Learned\u2019
\nevery time they\u2019re not.
\nIt is patient work.
\nStone by stone.
\nVoice by voice.
\nVote by vote.
\nChanging who is believed.
\nWho is heard.
\nWho leads.
\nSo let this anniversary be more than remembrance.
\nLet every badge remember
\nthe weight it carries.
\nNot only the law<\/p>\n

but one of humanity\u2019s purest forms – trust.
\nLet every woman\u2019s testimony stand clear
\nundimmed by procedural doubt,
\nbecause faith is not granted.
\nIt must be earned.
\nIt grows where harm is faced honestly.
\nWhere institutions choose courage
\nover comfort.
\nIt grows when girls are taught
\nthe streets belong to them.
\nNot as battlegrounds,
\nnot as negotiations with fear
\nbut simply as streets.
\nFive years. We should say her name – Sarah – to be a vow:
\nlet darkness never be allowed to cower behind rank
\nwithout relentless light defining its face.
\nAnd even in a dominant design
\nwe must redraw lines with steadier, equal hands.
\nThat one day – walking home will be just that:
\na simple act beneath indifferent stars.
\nNo prayer required,
\nno glance defined,
\nno shadow close behind.<\/p>\n

Jim Mackintosh<\/p>\n

Things to think about as you read:<\/em><\/p>\n