Don’t go inside the kitchen.
But why?
Don’t go to the temple, don’t pray.
But why?
Don’t dine with us, keep your distance.
But why?
It will be over in a week, said mom.
But why?
I ask again, every dawn.
For I bleed?
For I’m impure?
For I should be ashamed?
Is this why?
Isn’t this how we are born?
Aren’t we all sinful then?
Why should anyone go to the temple then?
Mom, it is nature’s gift to us women.
Why is it insulted so much?
Why do men show flagrancy?
So much, they refuse to touch?
Why mom, why?
Yet, I wear full clothes
For they say I can cast
An evil eye to colours.
Just because I bleed.
Are we women, cursed?
Or is it just us, pointing
Fingers at each other
How shameful!
Why don’t we fly above these, rather?
She tells me to sleep away
Little does she know, I get
Bad dreams, sometimes, nightmares
I tell her, mom, they’re only layers of cells
She shuns me, you’re full of sin, she says
I ask again, but why?
I tell her, we have soaps and pads
No reason to escape these lads
It is all ancient taboo, mom
She shuns me again
You’re full of sin this week, she says
I ask again, but why?
For I bleed?
For I’m impure?
For I should be ashamed?
For they say so?
Isn’t this how we were born, mom?
She locks the door
And never answers
I still ask, but why?