The Woman As A Girl

Dedicated to Nawal Al Saadawi.

You had no idea their claws were retracted

Otherwise you would have already reacted

Sickly green curtains flap slyly against breezes

Unaware the cold penetrating souls freezes

Lego houses built and toy train sets crashed

It seemed so natural until it simply flashed.

Metamorphosing into frail nothingness

The grown-up world like a land of otherness

Little children are meant to be seen not heard

Their conversations became oddly blurred

You didn’t understand adults attempting baby talk

You observed your surroundings with eyes like a hawk

Noticing our infidelities, lies and injustice

And we ask why you so blindly trust us

Because you feared for our overflowing plates

And our shoulders stooping down under weights

Waiting for the world to annihilate and save us

Lest further action and responsibility enslave us.

Your repulsed understanding of gender

Made you create your own agenda

Assured you had no future without man

Your anger and disgust right then began

So early on God forsook you,

How his treachery shook you

Second to your brother so flawlessly imperfect

You were prodded to sit straight out of respect

For misogynistic elders you cared little for

Every inch of your being wanted to roar.

Indignation became your default setting

Even now they talk about your wedding

Like you’re a prized lamb on display

Temporary until their time came to betray

And trade you under the label of moral obligation

Moral? You saw right through that fictional creation.

False deities they worshipped and offered

Their virgins how you despised the word

Like your value was measured by bloody skin

Starving and traumatised you became so so thin

Teeth barked and knees chattered cold

Your blue lips moaned: I’ve been sold

And your opinion never fucking mattered

Not even now that your soul is finally shattered.