A Strong Woman

Fragile, trivial, weak, dependent;

To everyone this is how I am known.

Home, kitchen, husband and children

are glorified as my “womb to tomb'” zone.

Education, Independence, Career,

seemed infinite miles far;

Coz since time immemorial

I have been kept at the sacrificial altar.

And nothing,

nothing motivated me to bloom;

Since I can remember,

I have been locked up in a gaslighted room.

I was stifled there,

and the keys were thrown away;

Justified on the ground that

my freedom will make society disarrayed

That is how since ages

I have been shut out from the ‘ambitious’ race

and the world out there,

I was not being allowed to face.

I know that never did I fight,

quite enough for my rights

protecting phony harmony & peace,

that somewhere I didn’t want to strike.

The urge to avenge welled up in my soul

But I gave in each time,

As the norms dictated -“It’s an unpardonable crime,

Just keep playing your assigned role”

I surrendered each time

whenever I wished to take a stand,

coz attachment, obligations

and countless other shackles,

had throttled my mind and hands.

Treading through the thorny boulders,

I carried the household on my shoulders.

Neither a word of gratitude,

nor ever I received my dues.

And was being told that

“This was the very thing

you were born for

and shall be destined to do”

~Swati Mishra