It's Me: A Woman Poem by Afshan Fatima

When I heralded my coming into this world….
some got me aborted,
and the ones who could not do that;
either left me deserted on a place,
to be torn and eaten away by dogs
or buried me alive,
stabbed or drowned,
swapped with boys or burnt,
strangled or sold to others.
And the ones who were kind enough
not to do that…
their eyes brimmed with tears
or faces turned pale.
Or their heads got lowered due to shame.
I was cursed or pushed aside,
slapped, malnourished,
discriminated and demeaned.
Gradually I grew up
to be assaulted and raped,
to be humiliated for dowry
or for lust,
exploited, advertised,
acidified, exposed,
stripped, criticized,
used, misused rather overused
and thrown away,
ditched and rejected,
questioned and forced,
tortured either physically
or emotionally,
pressurized to regenerate,
give birth to and raise
the exploiters to make it
a continued process
forever…..