Oh Please Stop This Happy Woman's Day!

image courtesy : interlude.hk

I am not the epitome of sacrifice

I do not like to struggle and strive

I don’t appreciate being the cook or care-taker

I dislike being addressed as the savior

I do not like smiling in the face of difficulty

I hate being labelled as a symbol of beauty

I am not the healer nor the pillar of strength

I am not here to understand, support or bend

I don’t like to be the person to suit as per your use

I am definitely not your haven of refuge

I am not the selfless goddess you require

I am not the perfect woman you desire!

Please stop writing these poems and odes

Describing a woman’s duties and roles.

Stop with your praises and adulation

Stop with this constant suffocation.

My love for no one is unconditional

Now don’t go branding me as untraditional.

My motherly love has enough expectations for your future

The best years of my life I spend in your nurture.

You grow up and find me silly and annoying

Trust me, I find you equally disappointing.

I am not your loving, selfless daughter

I love you as does my brother.

You can’t raise me to be independent and confident

Then marry me off and expect me to be dependent.

As your wife I demand equal status

There is no pride to stand behind your success.

I expect your contribution in duties and chores

My individuality for you to not underscore.

I am not the all-compromising daughter-in-law

I don’t care for your approval or applause.

I do not enjoy following your rules and norms

I am capable of making my own.

Why, o why, have you taken it upon yourself

To define a woman’s role in so much detail?

I don’t feel the need to write poems on the way you should be

I live my life absolutely guilt-free.

I don’t view you as a person for my convenience

Thus, no odes to silence my conscience.

Don’t try to make a martyr out of me

Instead, can you just let me be.

Each of you please listen and understand when I say

Stop defining me, I will choose my way.

Enough of piling my shoulders with your burdens

With all your expectations my life you only worsen.

I am not the mother, daughter, sister or wife

Just like you, I have my own life.

For your achievements and success I feel immense joy

But my personal accomplishments are the real high.

I will love and care on my own terms

To your expectations, I will not conform.