Make sure to warn her before
She is born in male hegemony;
Of the abysmal social acerbity
Of the ‘first sex,’
Tell her the roles that she will
Play in the demand of domestication,
The expectation of nurturing her
Womanhood through the coils of submission,
The game of ‘acceptance’ with no rebellion.
The clothes she’ll clean, the meals
she’ll cook, the name she’ll absorb,
all as a service to her dear beloved; in
the vanity of his sexual diabolism.
Oh dear baby girl, death would
Await you every single day, be snuggled
In your mommy’s womb for there would
Be people who may not like you and want
You in this world, loathe your mother for
Getting you on the ground they stand,
Accuse you of being born as a useless parasite.
“A plague of burdens,” they’ll call you,
Dismissing you for holding strong opinions,
A thinker by choice you shan’t be, seeing
Aggression as ‘unwomanly’ and a mental aberration.
Be born as a warrior to muster all
The strength that your mother gathered;
While she made you, don’t let fear speak for you.
( The writer is a student of Gargi College, Delhi University. E mail: ankita.dhawan05@ gmail.com )
