I am raped,
I am abused,
I am tortured,
I am burnt alive,
I am thrown in the dustbin,
I am aborted,
I am molested,
I am discriminated,
I am deprived,
I am weak,
I am screaming,
HELP ME!
Hi! I am a Woman, heard me saying all these?
Definitely, It isn’t easy understanding me.
Sometimes, I say, men are trash and the other time;
I blow a siren of equality.
Sometimes I say it’s not easy being a woman and the other time;
I wish I could be a man.
And there you are MAN, who in actual, is difficult to understand.
You own my body, soul and dreams.
You com-forts and consoles me.
You challenges and confronts me.
But sometimes, your voice in my head resonates like howl of a wolf.
Your lips on my neck don’t feel warmth.
Your hands on my waist don’t spark electricity.
It speaks more of lust than love.
Marriage gifted you my parts,
But you haven’t earned my heart.
Patriarchy taught you to be tough, macho and numb to emotions.
You have become so hard that
My vagina has been soared by your thick nerve, My nipples have forgotten your gentle suck.
My pain acknowledges your pleasure.
My womb awaits your offspring,
Your blood, name and treasure.
I know you don’t want to be a monster.
I know you feel boil too when you hear your gender blamed as rapists and molesters.
You are being raped too.
Raped by patriarchy and judgemental society but you don’t have a gender to blame.
You feel devastated when women around you drag her dress lower assuming you as one of a kind.
You feel frustrated when you can’t cry out loud for your pain.
You want to wash your face off mask of masculinity.
You want to spring off the mud of strong silent action hero.
Come, come to me. Take my hand. Lean on me.
The mother womb has a place for both of us.
Humanity still can be restored if we both try to trust and respect each other.
I need your support, you need my direction.
Like EVE to ADAM, let’s make this world a better place to live in.
This poem is part of Pratisandhi Foundation’s contest, ‘Waging Words‘. The contest was based upon a prompt of a picture whose theme was open to interpretation and the participants had to create a short story, an essay, one-liners, poetry, diary entries or any other medium of written expression. Read the other stories by Bhavya Pandey, Shriya Kataria, and Iyona Roy Biswas.
The top four participants received a certificate and shout out on social media page. Find Pratisandhi on Facebook and Instagram. Head to their crowdfunding page here.