An intense woman-centric poem, about love, abandonment, parochial patriarchy and more, exclusively for Different Truths.

The painted bridge
On either side
The great divide
Between what was and what is
And all that had ceased

The river guards her mysteries
Even as the waters continue to flow
Turbulent at times oh so slow at another
Unchanged and yet so different
In every waking and sleeping moment

The bridge under which we met
Rendezvousing in secret
On cold moonless nights
And scorching sundrenched afternoons
When we became one

The crickets were quiet
As if they have lost their melody
Even the beetles were still
From the sweltering heat  
Nothing dared to venture outdoors

And yet the whispers spread
Surreptitiously at first
Like the slow rustle of a snake
Beneath the thick grass blades
Human sharks that could smell a drop of blood

My lover disappeared
The coward that he truly was
As quick as the morning mists
Leaving me behind with child
The unwanted seed of a worthless fruit

Shunned and alone
Nowhere to run… no place to hide
Not a single kindred spirit to guide
And I…stubbornly refusing to give up
Against mounting odds

Completely forsaken
My immature body broken
From the trauma of childbirth
Education was my only passport
To find meaning and support

My beautiful baby is old and wise
Beyond her young years
Together we created a home
Across the painted bridge
For the women like us labelled as tarts

We are now a force
Questioning the moral authority
Of misguided patriarchy
Meant to subjugate the female form
To perpetuate the myth of a perfect man

More often than not
Veiled concepts of misogyny
Relentless in their attacks on the divine feminine
Silencing our voices
And caging our bodies

The high and mighty
From all levels of society
Now knock on our doors
To be educated in the ways of the world
To find and defend our hard-won freedom.

Visual by Different Truths

Seema Ahira

Seema Ahira is an Indo Canadian poet and spent her childhood and formative years in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. Coming from a multi-religious background she considers herself a strong empath and has an innate sense of social justice. Seema does not consider herself a poet and writes to give a voice to her feelings and thoughts. She lives with her amazingly supportive husband, reasonably well-adjusted young kids and a four-legged child.