Woman

By Vaidehi Jha

With every prayer bead you thumb,

You pull my veil lower;

Until my eyes are safely hidden,

And the fire in them can’t scathe you anymore.

With every whisper in a forgotten tongue that you pretend to

understand,

You puppeteer my muscles into subjugation.

Every stroke of blotted black ink in your scriptures

Christens me with a name I didn’t choose,

Dooms me with a fate I didn’t choose.

I make you bread and tea,

I kiss life into your eyes when you’re feeling weak,

I try to give you a child with perfect genes;

And in return, you make me bleed-

From my legs, from my heart, from my eyes;

You suffocate all of my identity in just five letters,

And you tell me the purpose of my life-

Is anyone but me.

By Vaidehi Jha