Sitting by the babbling brook
is a girl with infinite inhibitions.
She is scared to make herself heard
for the violence it may have stirred.
She has been told stories of glory and
gore, and how how they forever go
together. She doesn’t say a word.
Keeping her calm, she is undeterred.
Yet small whispers leave her
unnerved even though she has
persevered,
this life is not what she deserved.
She yearns to break the clutches of
society, to strangle the voice of prejudice,
to suffocate the flame of stereotype.
But she fears the violence she may ignite.
And then, as if to answer her prayers,
materialises a messiah into thin air,
handing her paper and quill,
into the unknown he vaporises.
There she eternalises
her thoughts into ink,
which compel all narrow minds to
think. Now, she bears no trepidation
for she has the elixir of education.
With societal expectations she doesn’t adjust–
for now she has the strength to undo the
unjust. To a greater purpose she is aligned
to grant this elixir to all of womankind.
Woman for woman, they all stand together
to take their agenda forward and further.
For all of womenfolk, she declares,
a life free from despair.
Sananshi Pidyar is a Class 12 student at the Convent of Jesus and Mary, India.
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