The Scripture of Woman

Sattyanshi Patial

Ever since the day I met you,

I believed that your presence wasn’t easy enough to be welcomed abode.

From an invisible pain in my abdomen,

My mother broke the news of me now turning into a woman.

And that was the cost with which you came,

With a pain and note of remainder to self.

Woman! You amaze me every day!

You made things so emotionally simple yet unreal,

You taught me how your aggression could turn into empathy.

To make belief attempts to live in a dreamy world of compassion,

Where every girl is a princess herself without any sympathy,

Winning hearts with her mesmerizing long hair,

Leaving even elves and demons in distress.

You are complete with adornments and gratitude,

And even without them.

I see you be sculpted by men,

I see you being covered and draped in a corner by those very men,

Who gave you this shape of a goddess?

And again, I see men harassing you,

To bring out their demonic selves,

Again, this is something that the scriptures mentioned.

But I fail to see you dancing,

Over the corpses with a lanyard of skulls dangling around your neck.

Neither do I find you seeking vengeance,

By dripping your hair with their filthy blood.

Or swearing to turn them to ashes,

And what not the scriptures mentioned.

Where are the scriptures demanding a different woman?

Or were the whimpers of women still thriving then,

Yet subdued among the scriptures.

Woman, you are a whole in yourself,

Complete as a vermillion and even without it.

Even without the presumptuous love of “Prince Charming,”

You are undefined, enigmatic, and fierce,

And every shade that the scriptures missed.

You are an abode of strength and enormous prowess,

I welcome you, woman, I welcome you to dwell in me

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Bio: Sattyanshi is a BA LLB (Hons) student at Panjab University, Chandigarh. Coming from a military background, she has been deeply influenced by a strong sense of public service, which fuels her ambition to make a meaningful contribution to military law. She was granted a merit-based scholarship for the BA LLB Program at OP Jindal Global University. In addition to her legal studies, she finds great fulfillment in poetry, using it as a creative medium to articulate her thoughts and share her distinctive worldview with others.

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Setu, November 2024