Gender Equality

An old man stepped into the light to educate us and said, A woman should be tamed, A woman should be locked in a cupboard for safe keeping, A woman should fold her dreams into the hands of a man that preach love, She should live in the pit of a man's heart and stay buried deep within his soul. Oh! Listen to their voice break the peace of water as men pour fire inside their heart and bend them into what lives after pain. Then I opened my mouth to breath words like fire.... You said a woman should wait for a man that will steal her voice and give her silence? But I know of women whose voice break the night into fragment of stars, I know of women made of bones, Who fight for space in the soil with their fingers. Look at their hands raised in thunder! See how they scatter darkness with the fire in their eyes, See how they get up after a night of grief and despair and do what need to be done to feed their children. As my voice filled his ears, his eyes mirrored his anxiety, His hands press together in worry , his face separate them in shame. Then I greet his silence like an old friend and said "What a man can do, a woman can do better" if given a chance Let there be equality for all. 01/02/2019 CONTEST NAME: Free Verse Style Only SPONSOR: Emile Pinet