Why Am I Born As a Woman

By Nitika Bhutani

Why am I born as a woman, I ask,

To carry the world in a harsh mask?

To hold the weight of silent screams,

And drown my truth in shadowed dreams? 

A cradle of life, they call me divine,

Yet chain me to rules, "Stay in your line."

They teach me fear before I walk,

They silence my thoughts before I talk.

My choices stolen, my laughter caged,

My body a battlefield, silently enraged.

They praise my strength, yet test my will,

To endure a world that breaks, yet stands still.

For every “no” that stifled my breath,

For every dream strangled to death,

I bear the scars, invisible, deep,

A wound the world is content to keep.

Why am I born as a woman, I cry,

To endure, to question, to always try?

To rewrite a story, to fight for space,

In a world that denies my rightful place.

But if the night is long, I am the dawn,

A fire within that will not be gone.

Yet still, I ask in the darkened gloom,

Why must I bear both life and doom?

Perhaps one day, this question will cease,

When woman and world find their peace

By Nitika Bhutani