We realize we don’t exist just to be admired.
But enough is enough.
After all the beatings, the disrespect, and the ignorance will we take a stand. Because we now know that you don't understand us well. You take advantage of our provision and guidance.
You have smothered our soul embers.
For a long time we’ve forgotten, some of us have never even known, who we are.
And you’ve forgotten as well,
even though we held you from the time you were helpless.
Allow me to recall.
We are a juxtaposition.
Strength of a stone is in our bones and our muscle,
yet when we walk we sway like trees.
Our disposition holds such endurance and strength,
simultaneously being full of grace and gentleness.
We’ve been consecrated with the ability to turn everything into beauty,
even our own faces and bodies.
Yet with our braided hair and our glorious physicality
we remain humble and self-sacrificial.
Because we know that one day our bodies will waste away.
But our legacy, though never spoken of,
will continue to the next and the next, and the next.
We're not afraid.
We are patient. We are faithful. We will help make you understand.
We must remind ourselves of this identity.
That we are here, and we matter.
Without us there would be no you.
And when you came along, our strength seeped from us to you. Some of us are glad, but for others the admiration was never acknowledged nor returned.
So we march together; we start a pointed, intentional conversation.
And when we march for ourselves, it’s necessary we march for others.
We march for those who cannot because their abusers are watching them.
We march for those who don’t value themselves enough to.
We march for those forgotten or left behind.
We march for the souls that are no longer.
We march for our children and give them a voice.
Because all of us came from a mother, and all of us were once a child.
We do not act out of fear.
We march with determination. With a smile. With a flash of confidence.
Because as we matter as one individual, we matter as all.
If you see our signs and hear our songs, and you have a sense of fear, good.
Listen to us now. Now. We won’t return your hate, but we will look you in the eye.
Join us or don’t, either way we continue to grow into our skin.
We will move on and forgive. If you are bitter, because you never had someone
to care for you, we will even heal you if you are willing.
But we won’t slip back to the way things have been so far.
See the fire in our pupils. You can no longer stomp it out.
Hear our loud voices. They are waning from all the yelling, but we will continue until something is done.
We are here.
We are humans of uniquity.
We are alive. Our value is beyond measure.
We are women.
Interestingly, I have finished this work during a time when there has been a lot of unrest during marches and protests, specifically in America. I have observed in this piece the word woman can be replaced with many, many types of people or groups from all over the world. People who have been marginalized, abused, and forgotten. Please think about your heart and the actions it's leading you to. I hope this helps you to see things truthfully and clearly from someone else's point of view.