Strong Women

The chickens have come home to roost
The lid is off Pandora's box
The men in power who long abused
no longer have their hiding place.
The world has turned
The worm has turned
Every wrongful arrest
every tax fraud , every sex crime
unleashed with "press enter"
never to be recalled .
In your young days 
your secrets were safe
but now you know
that I know about you 
and the wrong you've done
though you will never meet me
or hear my voice.

Strong Women?
All women are strong.
To outlive men
is to be strong.
We learnt in school 
about famous generals
but not so much 
of those strong women
in challenging times
like Rosa Parks
like Harriett Tubman
like Christabel Pankhurst
like Ellen Wilkinson
who made personal choices
beyond expectation
to fight injustice
rather than live in safety 
being passive and silent.

Strong women?
All women are strong.
To give birth 
is to be strong.
Our own dear grandmothers
and their mothers too
who looked like us
and felt like us
lived in hardest of times
and endured , survived
through years of the depression - 
the Jarrow Crusade
through anxiety of the wars - 
munitionettes packing shells.

Though not rich and famous
or glamorous actresses
our dear ones found strength
to hold families together
with unconditional love
which alone instills 
such solid self worth
in the next generations
who consequently work hard
and put fears in perspective
and are inclined to compassion
and live decent lives .

Tags: Inspirational,