Stand and Protest - Poem and Haiku

by Rashmi Jain

Stand and Protest

Conscience seems to be lost,
with the increasing rate of crime against women.
Silence is adopted in most of the cases but
Stand and protest!

Right from the beginning her existence was in danger
Female feticide has increased, irrespective of the plea to save the girl child.
Women make sacrifices first for brother then husband and son.
Why her identity is pinned?
She too has a right to live freely.
Get education and work shoulder to shoulder with man.
Why women are entrapped as ‘angels at home’?
She can perform multitasks and balances both work and home.
Stand and protest against gender discrimination.
Atrocities are inflicted on them,
Bruises and wounds of domestic violence, sexual abuse, acid attacks are visible.
Stand and protest against silence which
made woman a victim.
Represented as a weaker sex but
she has the capacity to shine like sun.

Stand and protest against colour discrimination which considers
milky white more beautiful than dark complexion.
Stand and protest against that tradition and culture which hinders women
to move towards their goals.
Stand and protest against that civilization which considers woman as a mere body,
without considering the divinity of soul.

Haiku I

Don’t entwine woman
in shackles of tradition.
Let her fly in sky.


Haiku II

Country that decry,
progress of the women, can
never rise for sure.