Menstruation: A Blessing

By Asoienla

Since the age of thirteen,

As I hit puberty

I got insecure,

Because for society, I wasn't as pure

As I was before,

World starts to squirm, I am bleeding!

Yes, I got my periods.

"Shhh... Keep this a secret, we are girls,

These are the things not to be shared".

But I do share!

My real life starts from the day of menarche.

The pain of heavy bleeding for the first two days,

Cuts more than a sharp blade.

A life I did not choose!

Depression comes knocking on my door

Checking my power if I’m strong or not! But...

But we live in a world where instead of making us disease free,

They instill in us the fear of buying ‘Stayfree’!

Instead of offering us ‘Whispers’, they whisper our menstrual bleed!!

Yes, because anything is better than red!

Red is foul, red, can embarrass a girl in a crowd,

Red is to hide, red can make a girl suicide!

She bleeds for you! Maybe that’s her oversight!!

Dreaming of her future life,

IAS, IPS, Doctor, Engineering, Fashion as her fantasy,

Never knowing that puberty would become her biggest fallacy!

Those "humbled" names, lusty touch is not to cure us,

But more insecure.

Clothes are not meant to wear but to tear,

Why does a man become someone to fear?

So my mom kept telling me to wear skirts out less often,

Because NIRBHAYA and others were left forgotten.

We can’t wear dresses of our choice, can we?

Skirts, jeans, even burkha can attract a man’s eye

They only come down to sexual strive !!

If you think dresses are the cause of rape,

What about the child who was still eight?

At the age of playing with toys and dolls,

They played with her body!

An eight year old ASIFA could’ve been your sister or a daughter!

If you think I’m showing feminism, then so be it,

We’re girls, women, humans and not a burden!

So it’s not a fault in our dress or age,

Because our country’s mentality is still in a cage.

Clothes are not meant to be torn,

When from her, Kings are born.

Make her free from the chains of caste, religion, colour and shape.

Let us breathe so that we can also feel safe.

I pay, I pay a big price to be a woman.

I bleed every month, but still I smile,

Because “Menstruation” is not a thing to hide.

It never lowers a woman’s pride.

It’s time I speak, it’s time I bleed.

Yes, I am a girl and I am proud of it!

By Asoienla