declaration

I wrote this down few weeks back. I was tired of giving answers to people who always questioned why I was still single (?), why was not I thinking about future ( they do know I am pursuing a BAJM degree part time after work), was I now a lesbian ( hahaha) and all sorts of questions that annoy the shit out of you..someone even said that my market value had an expiry date.... so I wrote this for them. Take is with a little bit of salt.. sweethearts :)

You talk of me,
As if you are talking of canned goods,
Items displayed on the shelf of a department store
Or
A pack of frozen meat in a butcher’s shop.
You say,
Your market value will go down; you have an expiry date,
So get a husband soon
When the time is still your friend, you might just be able to catch someone.
But, do you understand?
Comprehend even,
For a fleeting moment that,
This!
This one in the shelf might not wish to be purchased
Let alone opened.
Because,
I am more valuable than any goods that could be displayed in a department store shelf.
I am more than a pair of breast, ovaries and my sex.
And I demand of love that is as humble as first rays of sun.
Yes!
That would be the only currency of my trade.
You will be dry, you say
When it is time to sow the seed your womb will only be a thirsty land,
Drought.
But do you know?
My life doesn’t end with my biological clock hitting the menopause.
For which, there is plenty of time still.
Do you realize that
Even if I may be unable to bear a child of man,
I could nurse a hundred and more
Even when my nipples shrink into dry raisins,
I have inside me the love that never dries up.
Your life will be empty, so find a man soon who can fulfill you.
You say,
You don’t know how to love,
Surrender.
But do you see?
My life is much more
That the ‘relationship status’ in my face book page.
Or much more than having to find a man
to understand the meaning of my life.
That my heart is fragile, broken but full
With scares of judgments such as yours
And I wear them like war paint on my skin!
Yes!
I am in a war
Against time, I don’t expect a victory there
( who has ever won time?)
But I am waging war against mind like yours
That puts labels of expiry date and price tag on our female-hood.
If you would really want to sum up a woman’s worth
I say,
Measure the depth of her soul,
The expanse of it,
Find the price for her heart
That is vulnerable yet nurturing.
Put a price tag on a mothers intutive touch
that heals the pain of scraped knees and paper cuts,
or a shattered heart and broken dreams.
Measure the strength of a sister's lean shoulders
which can carry the weight of your sorrows like feathers.
Or a lovers gentlest caress
that shakes the core of your manhood when
she touches you there,
Right there,
On the nape of your neck
Or the invisible line between just where your torso meets
The bush of your ecstasy.
Do you not know?
That I walk slow,
Through my life because I know
My life has a meaning already
My existence needs no stamp of approval from you
And I am much more
Than the view of me you could ever surmise.
That I am a woman
And that itself is
Enough!

- The Warrior Poetess