Where I come from

-->

Where I come from

Today I made the warrior weep.

Today I could  swear I made the headman

embarrassed.

The meeting was about me.

I hear all including the village clown was
invited, but me.

Oh yes I cooked the meeting’s meal…

But I was unworthy to seat at the same meal’s table.

Normally they do a roll-call of dignitaries.

Today needed no protocol.

My story was too old and tiring.

It was to end as it was just starting.

The verdict would be a generational legacy.

But today my voice lost its discipline.

At the village court of all places!

I wanted to cut my tongue in shame,

But the voice was too heavy and too strong.

Every woman who ever set foot on this land

Was speaking through me.

I could not stop it.
I tried.

It was the mother.

The sister.
The daughter.

It was madness.
And at the village court
They all stopped eating my food .

I tried to stop these voices and their poison.

I tried I swear.
But they refused and kept refusing.

For the first time it was their time.
It was the aunt, the teacher, the favourite
grandmother…

…Even some I had never met!

My heart betrayed me with a rebellious
smile.

The voices claimed the village court.
Everyone at the village court including me
tried to look away.
But the voices…

The voices were as clear as they were commanding.

It was the female vendor running away from the

Municipal police.

The mother’s plea for water in the maternity ward.

The young girl’s dream choking under the wallet

Of her dad’s friend.

The scars of the neighbour’s wife…
It was a woman's hunger for basic respect.

I could not bear it.

As I was burdened by it.
I was ashamed of it.

Until...
Until I looked into their eyes.

...Turns out all but me knew this voice.

The voice resided in them.

They just didn’t care.

They just did not care.
And I pondered...
So what was the hell was warrior
crying about?