To the real-life warriors

She had the most luscious locks

Which she was always proud of

Had  her hair

looked after 

By her mother

With sheer pride

Till she became the bonny bride

Alas! The kingdom of my fantasies

My world, my dreams, my king who’s 

most precious is his queen

But what was this fate…this ill destiny

Wrapped in this painful ecstasy

His myriad emotions..

 the strangest  mélange of feelings

Her wrists clenched by the fists of the devil

Did she deserve to be beaten like a slave

Caged like the injured bird

Stoned by those marring beatings.

Those locks..those beautiful locks

Went to the parlour one day

Dangling till her swollen nape

“Cut them short”, she said 

Wearing a hooded cape

“But, that’s the finest hair I’ve seen”

“Why you want to cut then and be mean!”

Shrieked the barber.

Cut it shorter, she resorted

“Keep it till your pretty ears”

the barber exclaimed

A pixie is in vogue

But shortening your hair

Was still an idea, lame.

“Make them shorter”, she cried

“Oh..no!! Don’t make me a perpetrator”

“And make me a sinner”

“By murdering those locks”

Sighed the barber, shocked.

“Make my hair that short

That it doesn’t be that long enough

Enough to come in the hands

Of the perpetrator

To Get Hold of my hair

And make my locks

The weapon to make my soul bare.”

It is not just the end to the violence

Her voice is now not unheard

The tears in her eyes

Is not the weakness

But the anger within her

Which has made her blood boil

And brought the vapours in her eyes.

Her locks are now cut

She has begun her journey 

To write her own destiny

Without any societal ifs and buts.

#Respect Them

#Love Them #But Don’t Ever Take Them Weak Because She’s a Diamond That Can’t Be Broken by Anyone.

About the Author Rida Yumn Ahmed is a Youth Advocate for UN Sustainable Development Goals and a STEMinist. A mentor and a Young Member of the New York Academy of Sciences and an ambassador for many organisations, if you don’t find her brainstorming, she would be working for a cause and collaborating with people across the globe.