International Women's Day Poem by Bijay Kant Dubey

A dais, a platform wherefrom
To look upon
Gender equality, women's rights,
What a woman can do for a woman?

How to know her psyche, self,
What it obsesses her,
How her joys and sorrows over
The years, the span of time?

How the troubles and tribulations
She bore with,
How did she live under restriction,
How inhuman was our treatment?

How did we suppress and oppress
Her poor but kind self,
How did we tone down her of
Freedom of speech and expression?

Under the purdah, the ghumta,
The Lakshamanrekha, the circle drawn around,
The ghettos binding upon
Lived as a no man, without any identity.

Just the tattoo on the arm said it
The name of her husband
Which but she could spell it
And even if Hey Ram spelt she as expiation for.

Just like a shadow,
A black shadow she kept following
As the shadow fellow
A persona without a name and identity.

We too needed it not, felt not
To introduce her
Keeping her in the dark,
Hiding her identity and the good jobs she did.