She Is A Woman

By Megosekhono Whiso

She is a woman, divinely designed;

Your birth giver, your sister and your spouse

Loyal and submissive but much resigned

Silenced and disdained to nurture the house.

She defies not her ancestors' device

Shackled to the hearth as was her mother

Weeps in gloom on the march of bridal price

Mourns the fate her lass would morrow suffer.

Do not charge the man for his ignorance

Charge instead the cold mind of patriarchy

That hissed and forsook women tolerance

And bred in men each bit misogyny.

Modern woman is loved and praised in deeds

Still, it rests with you if she soar or bleeds.

Note: This poem is written in the form of English/Shakespearean sonnet.

By Megosekhono Whiso