She

by

Pushmaotee Subrun

She was aborted a million times when she was an embryo,

She was widowed even before knowing she married,

She wore the grey nun’s garment before she understood why,

She was raped when she was a baby of six months old,

She was not spared either at eighteen,

Or at the age of eighty,

She was mutilated and deprived

Of the God given seat of pleasure on reaching puberty,

She was stoned to death in the name of honour killings.

She was given capacity to love but not allowed to love…

She became the wife with stars in her eyes but soon disillusioned,

She was used as a machine to procreate,

She was abused, beaten black and blue and used again,

Where is equality, justice and human dignity?

Why talk of a just world when so much has still to be realized?

Why so much of yearly publicity on Women’s Day

Rabindranath Tagore rightly said,

The clear stream of reason has lost its way

Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit.

Pushmaotee Subrun is the author of: ‘Ella’, ‘Who is Your Best Friend?’, ‘Short Stories and Fables’, ‘A lyrical bouquet of Soulful Poems’, ‘Dreams to Reality’ and ‘Ripples of Elevated Verses’. Her poems feature in several anthologies and prestigious online magazines. She was selected by ‘Destiny Poets’ as Poet of the Year – ICOP Awards 2019. She was honoured by Gujarat Sahitya Academy in 2020 and 2021. She was Poet of the Year 2022 in ‘Inkdew Indew’. In 2023, she was among the most favourite 3 World Gogyoshi organised by founder of World Gogyoshi, Taro Aizu.